RWBY Plays Mechwarrior Online
by Samybliz
Summary: Does Team RWBY have what it takes to become not only great Huntresses, but great Mechwarriors? (I do not own RWBY or the Mechwarrior series, I'm just a big fan of both.)
1. Prologue

Prologue

The universe. Or should I say universes. Yes, there are many universes, existing side-by-side, completely unaware of all the others that exist. Not only that, but there are many copies of each universe being made every day. Now, I'm sure this is a lot to take in, so please let me explain. In the beginning, there was a single universe, and in that universe was a species. This species was not that much different from any other animal you may come across, except for their brilliant minds. They discovered and quickly became bored of the limitations of their universe and began seeking ways to satisfy their need for the impossible. After some time, a few powerful members of this species came forward and tried to create their stories in the physical universe. But this was not possible, as they wanted to do what was against the laws of their universe. However, their thoughts could not be silenced and began to strain the universe, so instead their ideas and stories were pushed outside the universe's borders and became their own. No longer tied down by their previous restrictions, the strong members of this species continued to grow their universes and their stories. These members were hence forth known as the Great Beings. Over time, almost every story possible was created, from enormous robots fighting in the depths of space, to a man who can wield the life of a planet itself as a weapon. The Great Beings created many stories for the others of their species to enjoy and most were content. However, there were some who wished to change the stories or even to combine them. Using the universes made by the Great Beings as the foundation, many Lesser Beings began to create their own versions of the existing stories. As they did, more universes were made, branching out of the originals. The number of stories and universes grew exponentially as now anyone was able to create these new stories.

I am one of these beings and this is my story...

"Yang! What were you thinking! I was in a perfect position to take out that Ursa!"

"Well I'm sorry princess, but you never said you were behind it! You should've moved after I hit it! Seriously, who just stands there and gawks as a dead grimm is flying toward them!"

"Girls, calm down. We still won in the end, right?"

"Uh, Ruby? I think we should just stay out of this..."

Well, I should say their story. Throughout this adventure we will follow Team RWBY as a chance discovery leads them to many hours of fun, laughter, teamwork, and sorrow. Watch as they climb new ranks, learning more about themselves in the process. Witness as they take on a challenge they never have before! Um... At least until Volume 2 Chapter 4, but that doesn't really count! The Paladin is too small to even be a light mech and its weapon loadout is too heavy for its chassis and...I'm sorry I got a bit off track there, where was I?...Oh yes.

We begin on a seemingly normal Friday at Beacon Academy...


	2. Chapter 1

Hello people of the internet, I am Samybliz. Now, before you read the story, I just need to tell you that I am not a writer. I have never written anything story-wise so I have absolutely no experience. To be blunt, I have no idea what I am doing. I'm sure some people reading this are saying; "Well Samy, what are you doing on this site if you can't write?" And my answer; I don't know. I thought the idea was cool, it could be fun trying to write something. I just wanted to do it. And isn't that why anyone does anything? Basically if you do plan on reading this, don't have high expectations... So, without further ado, let the- Oh wait, one last thing I forgot, this story starts sometime after RWBY episode 14 and right before the Clan announcement for Mechwarrior Online. Alright, NOW let the fanfiction commence.

Ch. 1

New Beginnings

The door to Team RWBY's dorm burst open and a very annoyed Weiss stormed in with Yang running in after her.

"Come on Weiss, I said I was sorry!" she said, reaching out her hand. Weiss turned around sharply and slapped Yang's hand away.

"Oh don't give me that!" She said, pointing a finger at Yang, "Every time you do this you say you're sorry and I forgive you and then during our next mission you do the same thing!"

"Weiss!" Ruby called as she and Blake entered the room.

"And you!" Weiss said, pointing her accusing finger towards Blake.

"Me?" Blake asked, confused, "What did I do?"

"Exactly!" Weiss replied, "You didn't do anything. As Yang's partner you need to keep her in line"

"I shouldn't have to keep her in line just because I'm her partner." Blake said coldly.

"Yeah, and...wait." Yang turned around and clasped Blake's shoulders, "Do you actually think I'm reckless?"

"Um, guys?" Ruby said quietly.

"Well," Blake said, "You do tend to rush into battle..." Yang let go of Blake and crossed her arms. " I wouldn't have to if a certain heiress would fight instead of just trying to stand the whole time."

"It's called a stance and it is very important in battle." Weiss said, now crossing her arms, "Because unlike a certain blonde I know, I don't like fighting like a brute."

"If I can just..." Ruby started but was interrupted by Yang. "At least I have fun! You and Blake are always too serious."

"And what does that mean?" Blake asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Well of course we are." Weiss said, "We're at Beacon to learn, not have fun! Which reminds me..." She walked over to her bed and picked up her workbook, "I have a special assignment with professor Bartholomew that I have to get to." Weiss walked passed her teammates and into the hallway.

"Wait Weiss!" Ruby called out, but Weiss was already gone. Yang shook her head.

"Fine, I was going to hang out with my friends anyway." And with that she stomped out of the room.

"But Yang..." Ruby said. She heard a noise behind her and looked back to see Blake gone as well, as was one of her books. Ruby looked down, now standing alone in her team's room. "I thought we had plans..."

Ruby walked aimlessly through Beacon listening to music, upset that her team had abandoned her. They had planned to spend the whole weekend away from school, just hanging out as friends, and now they were all split up.

"Why do we always fight?" Ruby thought as she walked, "Friends aren't supposed to fight like this. They're supposed to help each other and be there if one of them needs help."

She stopped walking when she came to a door and looked up. The sign read: Computer Lab. Ruby decided she might as well spend some time on one of the computers, so she took off her headphones walked in. The room was dark and eerily quiet. Flicking on the light, Ruby saw a few rows of computers and a large chalk board in the front of the room. It was odd as no classes were held in the lab and with all the students having scrolls, no one ever went in there. Ruby shrugged and sat down at one of the computers and turned it on. She went to various websites looking for something to do, but nothing piqued her interest. Ruby sighed and leaned back.

"It's no use. I need to find something everyone wants to do. Something that can help us work better as a team and still have fun."

She was about to exit the window and turn off the computer when her eye caught an ad on the screen. It was a small window that had a metal skull with glowing eyes and the caption: 'Grab A Team And Conquer All!' Unable to handle her curiosity, Ruby clicked the ad which took her to the game's homepage. At the top left corner of the page it said 'MECHWARRIOR ONLINE' and at the top right was Login, Create Account and Download Now. In the center of the page was the same metal skull that was on the ad and next to it said: Click Here To View The Debut Trailer! Ruby thought she might as well see what the game was like so she plugged her headphones into the computer and clicked on the trailer.

"Ruby! Ruby, where are you!" Yang called with Weiss walking behind her. This was not how they wanted to spend the afternoon. Yang was going to hang out with her friends, Weiss wanted to study and Blake was just going to quietly read. But after Jaune had mentioned that he hadn't seen Ruby in a while, Yang wasted no time getting her teammates back together to find her sister. They had checked all her usual spots and were now just walking through the halls hoping to find her. As they were walking Blake appeared from the library. "Any luck?" Yang asked.

"One person saw her walk past the door," Blake said, "but he didn't see where she went."

"Great," Weiss said, "Ruby's completely disappeared and nobody in the whole school has any idea where she is." Yang crossed her arms. "And who's fault do you think that is?"

Weiss sighed "Mine..." she said. Both Yang and Blake's eyes went wide and they exchanged glances. "Uh..." Yang said, "Did Weiss just..."

"Yes," Blake interrupted, "She just admitted she did something wrong."

"W-well it's not just my fault!" Weiss stammered, "You both were arguing too! But, I promised Ruby I would be the best teammate ever." Weiss looked down, "And I already failed..." Weiss looked back up with a determined look on her face, "That's why we're going to find her! To show her that she can believe in us as teammates and as friends! To show her that no matter what we stay together!" Yang stared at Weiss with admiration as Blake noticed something down the hall. Weiss got an embarrassed look on her face. "And also so I can apologize..."

Yang put her hand on Weiss' shoulder and smiled. "Thanks Weiss." Weiss smiled back and nodded her head. "Okay!" Yang said, putting her fist in the air, "So where should we look next!"

"Um, I may have an idea.." Weiss and Yang turned to see Blake looking at the computer lab door. They walked over to the door and saw light through the translucent glass.

"Why would the lights be on in the computer lab?" Yang asked, "No one ever goes in there."

"Which makes it the perfect spot for someone who wants to be alone." Weiss answered.

"And it's the only place we haven't checked." Blake added.

Yang grabbed the door's handle and smiled. "Alright, get ready Ruby, because your teams' coming back!"

"Whoa..." Ruby thought as the trailer ended. Even though it was only a minute and a half long and showed no actual gameplay, it had interested her enough to look into the game more. It would at least be a good way to pass the time. But as she was about to click the download button, someone grabbed her shoulder. "WHAAAA!" Ruby screamed, turning her chair around and flailing her arms around wildly in a kung-fu style. It took Ruby a few seconds to realize that she was not under attack and the person who had grabbed her shoulder was actually her sister, who had a 'come on Ruby this has happened a dozen times already' look on her face. Behind her, Weiss was shaking her head and Blake had her usual blank expression but her eyes shined with amusement. Yang put one hand on her hip and pointed to her ear with the other. Ruby knew what that meant and pulled off her headphones. She stood up only to be caught in a bear hug by Yang.

"Ruby where have you been?" Yang asked, squeezing Ruby to her chest.

"Huh?" Ruby choked, struggling to escape Yang's grasp.

"We've been looking all over the school to find you." Blake said. Ruby was finally able to pry Yang off and hold her at arms length.

"But I thought you guys were mad at each other." She questioned.

"We were," Yang said, "But we made up to look for you. And..." Yang grabbed Weiss and pulled her over in front of Ruby, "Weiss, didn't you have something you wanted to say?" Weiss sighed and faced Ruby.

"Ruby," Weiss began, "I'm sorry for starting that argument. And for ignoring you. And for breaking my promise. I just got mad and I wasn't thinking clearly. I just want you to know that I'm with you now, one hundred percent. From now on, we'll do everything as a team!"

"Weiss..." Ruby said, her silver eyes shimmering.

"B-but it wasn't just me!" Weiss stammered as a light blush started to form, "These two were arguing just as much as me!"

"Hey! That's not true!" Yang said defiantly, "We weren't arguing as much!"

"But we _were_ arguing." Blake spoke up, "So, we're sorry too Ruby."

"Y-yeah, sorry sis..." Yang said. Ruby shook her head and smiled.

"It's okay guys, really." She assured, "I'm just glad to see you back together." The girls relaxed for a minute with the knowledge that the team was back together before Yang spoke up. "So, what should we do now?"

"Well," Weiss said, "There's not much time left today. We spent most of the day looking for Ruby. Speaking of which..." Weiss turned to look at Ruby, "What have you been doing here all this time?"

"I've pretty much just been looking for something to do on the computer." Ruby said.

"And have you found anything?" Yang asked.

"Uh..." Ruby thought, "Not much... Just now I found a game called-"

"Mechwarrior Online?" The three girls turned to see Blake leaning over Ruby's chair and looking at her monitor, which was still on the Mechwarrior Online trailer page.

"Yeah, it looked interesting so I watched the trailer." Ruby said.

"And?" Weiss asked.

"Well, it didn't show much," Ruby answered, "But from what I saw... OHMYGODITWASSOAWESOMETHEREWASASPACESHIPANDYOURTHISGUYANDYOUHAVEAGIANTROBOTTHATYOUDRIVEANDITHASREALLYBIGGUNSANDITHINKYOURONADIFFERNTPLANETAND-"

"Whoa whoa whoa calm down Ruby!" Yang grabbed Ruby's shoulders to keep her from jumping around in her excitement, "Now relax for a moment and then say what you have to say." Ruby took a few deep breaths and looked up at Yang with big, pleading eyes.

"Can we play it? Please?" The girls became entranced by Ruby's cuteness, with Weiss getting a slight nosebleed.

"Okay okay," Yang said, "We can watch the trailer."

"YAAAAAY!" Ruby cried happily and sat down in her chair and turned to face her computer screen.

"How does she do that?" Weiss asked as she wiped her nose. Yang shrugged,

"I don't know. Sometimes I think she has a cuteness semblance."

"I wouldn't be surprised..." Blake mumbled. Ruby made the trailer full screen and unplugged her headphones from the computer.

"Okay girls, are you ready to witness the most awesome thing you will ever see!"

"All ready?" Yang asked the other two.

"Ready." Blake said.

Weiss smiled, "Okay, let's see what our leader found for us." The three grouped up behind Ruby's chair with Ruby barely able to contain her excitement as she clicked the play button.

The screen is black for a second then '3049, Planet Eaglesham' appears on-screen.

"3049! Isn't that like a thousand years in the future or something?" Yang asked.

"One thousand and thirty-six years to be precise." Weiss said, also impressed at how far in the future this took place.

Music starts to play in the background as the video fades into a person in a full body worker's suit climbing down a small ladder attached to what looks like a red metal pillar. The camera slowly starts to zoom out. Every so often the screen rumbles.

"I wonder what he was doing." Blake said.

"I don't care what he was doing!" Yang whined, "Ruby, you said there were giant robots in this, so where are-"

Yang stopped talking and the three girls' eyes grew wide as the camera zoomed out to show that the metal pillar was actually a giant leg, then more to show a second leg next to it. The worker hopped off the ladder and looked up, giving a signal. The camera looked up to reveal the body of a humanoid machine, a large silver gun barrel coming out of the lower part of its right torso. A platform at its chest lifted slightly and then retracted off-screen.

Ruby looked back at her friends and gave them a smug grin. "See, I told you there was a giant robot."

"Ruby, that thing is enormous!" Weiss exclaimed.

"I guess it makes sense that this is so far in the future then." Blake said.

"I want one of those!" Yang cried.

The camera cuts to behind the mech, showing it hooked up to a yellow lifter and two tubes connected to its back. Another worker is there with a computer screen next to him.

"It looks like it's being worked on." Blake examined.

"Well, I imagine it would take a lot of service to keep something like that running." Weiss pointed out.

The worker starts walking across the balcony behind the mech as the camera pans across with him. The lifter moves the mech forward. The camera cuts to a side view of the mech moving across the screen. An alarm starts sounding. The camera then cuts to above the mech where the lifter's control box is with a worker inside.

"Wait, I just realized something." Blake said.

"What?" Yang asked.

The camera switches to a first-person view of the worker in the control box moving joysticks to make the lifter turn to the right. It then switches back to the side view with the mech slowly turning.

"If they are working on the mech, then wouldn't it be a lot easier with all the balconies around it, instead of moving it away from them? "

"Maybe they're going to check its systems?" Weiss suggested.

"But then they wouldn't go through all the trouble of hooking it up to the lifter." Blake explained. Ruby just smiled,

"Just watch."

The camera cuts to a first-person view of the pilot inside the mech's cockpit. A smaller mech can be seen on the other side of the hanger. The pilot begins pressing buttons and flipping switches that turn his mech's systems online. As he does, a female computerized voice notifies him.

Voice: "Reactor, online. Sensors, online. Weapons, online. All systems, online."

"So they _are_ checking its systems" Yang concluded.

"But it still doesn't make sense that they would move it with the lifter just to see if it turns on." Blake argued.

"Maybe it's being sent out into combat." Weiss said.

"But there's no door anywhere!" Yang said, "The only way it could get out is if they're in the air and the floor opened up!"

The camera cuts to the mech's glowing left eye as the music's climax kicks in. The camera then switches to the mech's feet, hovering about a meter off the ground. The floor drops slightly and opens revealing they are bay doors. Wind begins to tear through the hanger.

"They're going to drop it!" Weiss exclaimed.

"So they were in a ship the whole time." Blake announced.

"Not just any ship my dear teammates." Yang said, "They were in a DROPship." Ruby started giggling while Weiss and Blake looked at Yang, trying to mentally decide which one of them would slap her, but they dropped it (Ha!) and returned to the video.

The tubes in the back of the lifter disconnected and the camera cut to the front of the mech, now clearly showing the missile rack on its left torso and its white skull-like head with glowing red eyes.

"Man, I wouldn't want to go up against that." Yang said, "But I would love to have one..."

"I don't know," Weiss said, shivering a little, "It looks really creepy and ugly."

"It's a common psychological war tactic," Blake explained, "You make your side look as threatening as possible to scare your enemies."

"Yeah." Ruby agreed, "I mean, could you imagine how silly it would look if that thing was pink?" Ruby's eyes widened when she realized what she said and all four girls shuddered as they thought of what would happen if Nora had one of those mechs. After a moment they regained their composure and continued with the trailer.

The lifter began to lower the mech, cutting to various angles showing it being lowered through the hanger doors. The camera stops on a top-down view of the mech, now hanging completely out of the ship. Far below was the ground, covered in snow-capped hills.

"Can it really survive a fall from that height?" Weiss asked.

"It must have something built-in that allows it to land undamaged." Blake assumed.

"Yeah, like a parachute or a jet pack or something." Yang guessed.

"Really Yang, a jet pack?" Weiss criticized.

"It could be possible!" Yang said, "And awesome!" She whispered.

The mech hung out of the hanger for a moment longer, then half of the lifter disconnected, dropping with the machine just as the music ended. As the mech was about to fall off-screen, a large, blue flame erupted from the part of the lifter that went with it.

Weiss frowned as Yang looked at her smugly. "Check and mate." she said.

"Oh shut up..." Weiss muttered.

The hanger doors slowly closed, bringing together the two halves of the Mechwarrior Online logo printed on each side, then fade out, ending the trailer.

"So?" Ruby asked, leaning back in her chair, "Wasn't that the most awesome thing ever!"

"I will admit to a slight interest." Weiss said.

"It does look like it could be fun." Blake noted. The three girls turned to look at Yang, who was staring at the computer screen.

"Yang?" Blake asked, concerned, "You still there?"

"I want one..." Was all that Yang said.

Blake sighed, "She's fine."

Ruby had exited full screen and now had the mouse hovering over the Download Now button. "So then are we all in agreement?"

"Looks like it." Wiess said, "Go ahead Ruby."

"YAY!" Ruby cried happily as she clicked the mouse. A small window opened showing the download progress bar with 'Estimated Download Time: 5 hours, 45 minutes' under it. "NOOOO!"

"Ruby, we can't stay up that late." Blake said. Ruby whimpered slightly.

"Come on sis," Yang consoled, "We can leave it downloading overnight then play it first thing in the morning."

"R-really?"

"Of course," She assured, "We'll have all weekend."

"Assuming that Ozpin doesn't have another 'surprise mission' for us." Weiss thought as she walked out the computer lab door with Blake and Yang. Ruby grabbed her headphones and followed her teammates. She looked back at the computer screen before turning the lights off and slowly shutting the door, leaving the game to download...


	3. Chapter 2

Hello people! Samybliz here posting a new chapter, this time with actual gameplay! So, time to see if I'm actually capable of writing gameplay that doesn't suck. And also, since my descriptive skills are terrible, if you want to see what any of the mechs look like, just go to google images and type in 'mechwarrior online' and then the name of the mech. Hopefully this turns out good and please enjoy!

Chapter 2,

Welcome to Mechwarrior Online!

"Ruby, just pick something so we can get started on the game!" Yang yelled as she turned to face Ruby, who was sitting in front of her computer.

"No!" She responded, "This is a very important decision and it can not be taken lightly." Yang threw her hands in the air and continued pacing. Everything had been going so smoothly. Team RWBY woke up to a bright Saturday morning with the sole intent of playing Mechwarrior Online for the first time. They got ready as fast as possible and went down to the computer lab to find the game fully downloaded on Ruby's computer. But just as they were about to run it, Ozpin called them up to his office to give them a special mission. The girls were unhappy but complied, leaving to complete their mission. Luckily, Blake had thought ahead and set three more computers to download the game just before they left. By the time the team came back, there was only about one hour left for the three downloads. They decided to let Ruby play alone on the downloaded game to see what it was like before they played together. Which brings us to the girls' current situation.

"Ruby, we've been sitting here waiting for you for half an hour... Just pick a username already!" Yang said again, now beginning to lose her patience. She continued pacing while Weiss browsed the Mechwarrior Online website and Blake read quietly.

"Just calm down Yang" Weiss said, though in all honesty she was just as annoyed as Yang. "Thank goodness the other downloads are almost done." She thought.

"Fine..." Yang groaned, walking over to the chair next to Weiss and slumping down into it. Weiss shook her head and went back to browsing. Yang turned to look at Weiss' computer. "What are you looking at?" She asked.

"I'm trying to find out about the mech we saw in the trailer." Weiss answered.

"Why?"

"Well," Weiss explained, "If we're going to be fighting it, it would be useful to know what we're up against."

"I guess that makes sense," Yang agreed, "So what have you found out?"

"Not very much on the website," She admitted, "But I did find a page with all its information. Look." Weiss turned her monitor toward Yang as she sat up to look. Ruby turned her head to Weiss' computer while still trying to think of her username. Blake didn't look up from her book but her bow twitched slightly.

"Apparently, the mech we saw is called an 'Atlas'." Weiss said.

"Atlas? Like the Kingdom?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah." Weiss said, and smiled, "It is understandable that this powerful machine is named after the home of my father's company."

"Okay, we get it, you're the heiress to a multi-million lien company which supplies the entire world with dust. Tell us more about the giant death robot." Yang complained.

Weiss frowned but continued scrolling though the Atlas' information. "Alright, let's see... It says it's a one hundred ton, 'Assault Class' Battlemech with a speed of 57.2 KPH. Wow, one hundred tons is impressive."

"Yes it is, but what does it say about its weapons?" Yang asked.

"Um...Here it is." Weiss answered, "The Atlas 'AS7-D' is equipped with a class twenty Autocannon, an LRM twenty, an SRM six, and four Medium Lasers."

"LASERS!?" Yang exclaimed, almost jumping out of her chair, "That thing has freaking lasers!?"

Weiss shrugged, "Well, it is science fiction. And besides, I heard that the Atlas military is trying to develop a laser based weapon for their soldiers."

Yang grumbled something about wanting a laser while Ruby leaned in closer to Weiss's computer. "Hey Weiss, does it say what LRM and SRM mean?"

Weiss looked back to her screen and clicked on the LRM and SRM weapons, which opened two new tabs. "Yes, here they are. LRM means 'Long Range Missile' and SRM means 'Short Range Missile'."

Ruby's eyes shimmered and a large grin grew on her face. "Wow, all these weapons sound so cool! I can't wait to play!"

Yang sighed and got out of her chair, "Well, my dear sister, you are not going to get to play because you won't create your account!"

"I'm thinking about it!"

"Don't think about it, just pick something! It's starting to get annoying now!"

"You can't rush these things Weiss! This is the name that everyone online will see!"

The three girls continued arguing about Ruby not picking a username as Blake, who had been reading quietly and listening in on the information about the Atlas, now had her eyes closed, unable to concentrate on anything now. She thought about covering her ears, but decided it wouldn't do any good as the noise would still be heard through the cat ears hidden under her bow. Her eye started to twitch as the arguing grew louder, until finally she couldn't take it anymore and snapped her book shut. Ruby, Weiss and Yang immediately stopped talking and turned to look at Blake, still sitting with her head tilted down to her closed book. She opened her eyes slowly and gave her teammates a look that made them shiver.

"Moonlight Rose." Was all that she said. The girls figured she was suggesting a username for Ruby to use. Weiss and Yang held their breath as Ruby thought for a momment.

"I like it." She finally said, and returned to her computer to create her account. Weiss and Yang breathed a sigh of relief and mouthed 'thank you' to Blake, who smiled and nodded to them. Ruby's fingers flew across the keyboard as she typed the information for her account.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand done!" Ruby announced as she hit the enter key and the game started loading on a 'Creating Account' screen. Weiss, Blake and Yang picked up chairs and brought them over next to Ruby and sat down so they could all watch her screen.

"So Ruby, what's your password?" Yang asked.

"I'm not telling!" Ruby said.

"Oh come on! You can tell your big sister." Yang begged.

"No!" Ruby said defiantly, "You're never supposed to give your password to anyone, which includes big sisters!"

"Come on, what is it? Is it cookies? Or Crescent Rose? That's it, it has to be Crescent Rose!" Yang guessed.

"Nope." Ruby said.

A devious smile grew on Yang's face. "Or maybe it's something more personal, like 'my sweet ice quee-"

She was cut off as Weiss drove her fist onto the top of Yang's head. "If you finish that sentence, I swear, I'll feed you to a nest of newly hatched Nevermore!" Weiss growled, but with an obvious blush starting to form.

"Okay okay, fine! Jeez!" Yang said, wrestling Weiss's hand off her head as Ruby and Blake giggled. "How long is this gonna take anyway?"

As if on cue, the 'Creating Account' on the game screen switched to 'Account Created!' and then faded to show the game's main screen; an empty mechlab with music playing in the background. At the top of the screen was Home, which was highlighted blue, Mechlab, Skills, Faction, which was grayed out, Store, which was highlighted yellow, and PLAY, highlighted in green. On the left was Select Mech, Inventory, Achievements, Statistics, Redeem Code, Testing Grounds, and Tutorials. Underneath were two boxes that said; Current Mech: None, and MC: 0, C-Bills: 0. At the bottom left of the screen was a small 'Log Out' button, and next to it was a large yellow button that said; Purchase MC. At the bottom right was a settings button and next to it was a button that had three silhouettes in it.

"So, uh, where's the mech?" Yang asked.

"You probably have to buy one first." Weiss pointed out.

"Well how do we buy one if we just started?"

"Hang on Yang, this is just the home menu. Let's see what's in the mechlab." Ruby said as she clicked on the Mechlab button. The button became blue and a list of twelve mechs appeared on the screen, showing the name, an image of the mech, the mech's cost in MC, and a yellow button that said 'BUY'.

"Okay, now we're getting somewhere. Ruby, go ahead and buy away." Yang said.

"Yay!" Ruby cried happily, clicking 'BUY' on the first mech. But a notification came up saying 'You do not have the required funds for purchase'. "Wait, what?"

"I thought so." Blake said with the other three girls turning to look at her.

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

"Well, all these mechs cost MC, whatever that is, ranging from twelve hundred to forty-nine hundred," Blake explained and pointed to the lower left of the screen, "And it says here you have zero MC."

"So you can't play unless you pay with real lien? What a rip-off!" Yang yelled.

"Not necessarily." Blake said calmly, "Look at the left part of the screen."

The girls did and noticed the buttons on the left were different, now showing All, Trial, highlighted in blue, Light, Medium, Heavy, Assault, Champion, and Hero.

"Oh, I see." Weiss realized.

"Clever, aren't they." Blake said, sounding impressed. Ruby looked at the screen with a puzzled look on her face as Yang asked, "So, would you like to share with the rest of the class?"

Weiss rolled her eyes, "These are trial mechs, mechs you can use without having to buy one."

"Really? That's awesome!" Yang exclaimed.

"Which means 'All' should show us all the mechs we can buy, right?" Ruby asked.

"It should. Try it." Blake said. Ruby clicked on the 'All' button, but the screen didn't change.

"Or not?" Ruby said, clicking again. The screen still didn't change.

"I guess these are all the mechs that are available." Weiss said.

"Aw, that's disappointing..." Yang complained.

"Oh well, at least we get something." Ruby said, trying to cheer up Yang and clicking on the first mech in the list; a Spider. The small, humanoid mech appeared on the right side of the screen as well as its stats. It was a standard green color and had two small guns on each of its arms, their barrels protruding out slightly farther than its fists. Two thrusters that looked like wings were on its back, and connected to them were two tiny fins. In its lower torso was a hole covered in a glass-like substance.

"It kinda looks like it has a jet pack." Yang said.

"Oh no, no more jet packs Yang!" Weiss exclaimed.

"Uh, actually Weiss, she's right." Ruby said, as she and Blake looked at the Spider's stats. "It says right here; Jump Distance, 17.3"

"What? But it-that..." Weiss stuttered before giving up, Yang smiling next to her.

"Let's see..." Blake said, "Speed, 137.7 KPH. Armor, 210. Firepower, 25. Heat management, 1.95, and tonnage, 29.9 out of 30."

"Thirty tons? That's a lot smaller than the Atlas." Yang noted.

"Yeah, but it's much faster than one." Weiss pointed out, "At a hundred and thirty-seven kilometers, it can run circles around something the size of an Atlas."

"Okay, done." Ruby announced as she clicked the play button, causing the screen to darken and 'Searching...' to appear.

"Ruby! Why did you do that!" Yang cried.

"Because this one sounded fun to use." Ruby answered.

"But there were still eleven other mechs!" Yang said, looking at the dark but still visible list, "There's a Firestarter, a Centurion. Look, there's even the Atlas! How do we know none of these are better than the Spider?"

"Yang has a point." Blake spoke up, "You should have at least looked at their stats so you know what you're up against."

"Maybe that would have been a good idea..." Ruby agreed. "But I'm sure I'll be fine."

"But do you even know the controls?" Weiss asked. Ruby's eyes went wide as she hadn't even thought of that.

"Um...No?" She said innocently, causing the three girls to facepalm as the screen said 'Connecting...' for a moment, then switched from the mechlab to a small urban setting with a large body of red water.

"Well, it's too late now..." Ruby said.

A large information box appeared on-screen saying;

Crimson Strait

Game mode: Skirmish

Win Conditions: Destroy all enemy mechs, On time out most kills wins.

"Ruby, how are you going to play if you don't know the controls?" Blake asked.

"Try WASD and the mouse." Yang suggested.

"Why those?" Weiss questioned.

Yang shrugged, "Some of my friends play online shooters and they almost always use those keys and the mouse to move."

The screen switched to a pre-match lobby with, 'Your Team' on the left and, 'Enemy Team' on the right. A timer counting down from 60 was under Ruby's team and a green 'READY' button above the enemy's team. The twenty-four players in the match were split with twelve in each team. They were further split into three lances of four players on each team. The girls looked and found Ruby, Moonlight Rose, in Charlie Lance. All the players had a small symbol to the left of their usernames, but only Ruby's team had their mechs to the right, with all the mech's names being abbreviated. Ruby's _Spider_ appeared as SDR-5K(C), while her three lancemate's were GRF-3M, JM6-S, and STK-5M.

"What mechs are those?" Yang asked, "We didn't see any that could be abbreviated like that."

"Maybe we missed something?" Blake suggested.

"We probably did," Ruby said, looking though the rest of her team's mechs. "CPLT-A1, COM-1D..."

"And look," Weiss said, pointing to a player in Ruby's team's Alpha Lance, "Someone has an Atlas AS7-D."

The timer reached zero and the pre-match screen faded, now in a first-person view of the _Spider's_ cockpit. A short music track played as the pilot began pushing buttons to power up the mech. As he did, the female computerized voice from the trailer spoke.

**Ruby's computer: Reactor, online. Sensors, online. Weapons online. All systems, nominal.**

When the start-up finished, the mech's HUD appeared on-screen. A timer was at the top of the screen counting down from 15:00 and had a blue zero on the left and a red zero on the right. A list of Ruby and her lancemates were at the upper left of the screen, her mech's armor and structure indicator on the bottom left and her weapons on the bottom right, showing four machine guns and an ER large laser. In the bottom middle of her screen was the radar, with Ruby being a yellow arrow, her lancemates being green and the rest of her team being blue. An empty bar was on each side of the radar.

"Okay sis, hopefully your right..." Ruby said, putting her hands on the mouse and WASD keys. Despite being left-handed, it still felt reasonably comfortable. Holding her breath while the others crossed their fingers, Ruby pressed the W key. The Spider took a step forward, the bar to the left of the radar filling as the mech's speed increased.

"YES!" Ruby cried as Weiss, Blake and Yang breathed a sigh of relief. Ruby held down the W key, her mech taking a few more steps forward, then held the S key, causing her mech to move backward.

"It works! I'm playing!" Ruby said, moving her mouse in excitement. The mech's torso reacted, moving in sync with Ruby's mouse movements.

"Whoa, cool..." She said, moving her mech's torso to the right, with it stopping at 110 degrees. She pressed the D key, turning right until she had her lancemates in view.

"Alright, at least we know how to move." Blake said.

"Yeah," Weiss agreed, "Though I'm going to have to edit my controls."

"Now Ruby just needs to test out her weapons." Yang proposed.

"Wait, guys. Look..." Ruby said, her eyes shimmering as she put her lancemate's mechs in view, each of them with a green triangle above them. One was a larger humanoid, colored dark blue, with large shoulder pads and a missile pod on its right shoulder. Ruby hovered her crosshairs over it and an info box appeared above it, with the pilot's name, the mech's distance away from Ruby and the mech's name; a _Griffin_. Ruby looked at another of her teammates, a _Jagermech_. A larger mech with humanoid legs but a bulky torso with no head. In place of its arms were two large cannons.

"That looks like it can do some damage." Yang said.

"But what an odd design," Weiss said, "Something that bulky would be impossible to miss."

"It looks like it's meant to take a lot of damage and keep fighting." Blake pointed out.

Ruby turned to the final mech in her lance, a _Stalker_. The strangest mech the girls had seen yet, the Stalker had a large, bullet shaped torso sitting on bulky legs that bent backward at the knee. A skeleton paint scheme was covering the mech.

"Wow, all these mechs are so cool!" Ruby squealed as her lancemates began walking.

"Ruby, you might want stay with your team." Blake suggested.

"But she doesn't know how to fire her weapons yet!" Weiss said.

"My friends would usually use their weapons with the mouse buttons." Yang offered.

"Okay." Ruby said and pointed her mech's torso down to avoid accidentally shooting her teammates. She clicked the left mouse button, causing a short stream of machine gun fire from the Spider's arms. Ruby then held the button and the machine guns began firing continuously at the ground.

"Okay, you can fire your machine guns, what about your laser?" Weiss said

Ruby clicked the right mouse button and a large blue laser shot out from her center torso. As the beam was being shot, the bar on the right of the radar began to fill with red. The laser lasted for a second and a half, then automatically ended, the bar slowly beginning to empty.

"Alright, now that I know how to play, I, Ruby Rose, will conquer everyone! Ha ha ha!" Ruby laughed and began running to catch up with her lancemates.

"Yup, now we see what this game is really like." Yang said.

"If it were me, I would play tactically, but knowing Ruby..." Weiss started.

"She'll run right into the enemy team..." Blake finished.

"No, I won't," Ruby assured, " See? I'm staying with my team." Ruby ran to the rest of her team, now grouped up under an overpass and moving along it.

**Ally 9 Team: LRM boat here, please lock targets**

"LRM boat? Does that mean he has lots of LRMs?" Ruby asked.

"I think so." Blake said, "And look, your Stalker was the one who said that."

Ruby's team continued moving, walking past a tunnel and into a few buildings overlooking a small valley with a tall mountain to the left.

**Ally 5 Team: got you covered**

A small humanoid mech, a _Commando_, ran past Ruby's team into the valley and the few buildings past it.

"Looks like he's the team's scout." Yang said.

The _Commando_ ran around the buildings and up a ramp leading to a large platform just out of Ruby's line of sight. Suddenly, multiple red triangles appeared on the platform. The _Commando_ moved back as he was shot at by blue and green lasers.

**Ally 5 Team: there ya go**

"And looks like he found the bad guys." Ruby said as a few of her teammates fired missiles. Others began moving up to the ramp, firing lasers and autocannons.

"So where are you gonna go?" Yang asked.

"Um..." Ruby thought, looking at her teammates firing missiles, then to the ones moving up the ramp. "I can't really do much here, so I guess I'll move up with my team."

Ruby ran through the valley and up behind her teammates on the ramp as her friendly _Atlas_ and _Battlemaster_ walked onto the platform. She followed behind them and saw a few enemy mechs.

"Okay Ruby, it's your first engagement," Weiss instructed, "Just stay behind your big mechs and-"

"YAAAA!" Ruby cried and ran at the enemy mechs, being followed by her friendly _Commando_ and _Cicada_. She shot her ER large laser and began firing her machine guns at a nearby enemy _Jagermech_.

"Ruby! Stop rushing into combat!" Weiss exclaimed.

"YEAH! Kick his ass!" Yang yelled.

"Yang, language." Blake said.

"Sorry."

Ruby ran around the _Jagermech_, pelting it with machine gun fire. The _Jagermech_ aimed the giant barrels on its arms at the _Commando_ that followed Ruby and fired, the AC/20s hitting it dead in the center torso and destroying him.

"Oh no!" Ruby said.

Weiss sighed, "That's why I said to stay behind your teammates."

**Ally 5 [Dead] : watch out guys, enemy has a boomjager**

The red zero at the top of the screen changed to a one as Ruby ran back to her assaults. But just as she reached them, a volley of missiles struck the _Battlemaster_ on her team, falling backwards as it was destroyed. The enemy's score switched to two.

**Ally 9 Team: just keep targets**

Multiple LRM volleys from Ruby's team hit the enemy mechs. As Ruby was running around her _Atlas_ she was hit by two large lasers. The left arm, left torso and center torso of Ruby's mech on the armor indicator began flashing then stopped, becoming yellow.

"Ruby, get off the platform!" Weiss said.

"No!" Ruby replied, "I have to keep the enemy in sight so our LRMs can hit them!" A warning appeared on Ruby's screen.

**Ruby's computer: Warning, incoming missile.**

"Ruby, get behind cover!" Blake told her.

Ruby ran behind one of the structures on the platform but was still hit by a large portion of the missile volley. Her left torso flashed and became orange while the armor on her left arm disappeared and its structure indicator became dark yellow. Ruby looked back and saw her friendly _Atlas'_ right arm be blown off. The _Griffin_ in Ruby's lance used its jump jets to fly up to the platform while an _Awesome_ walked up the ramp to join them.

"Your Spider has jump jets doesn't it?" Weiss asked.

"Yeah, but what key do I press to use them?" Ruby said.

"Um, try the space bar," Yang suggested, "That's usually what jumps."

Ruby held her thumb on the space bar and her mech began to lift into the air. She rose until she was above her cover and was shot by the enemy's lasers and autocannons.

"Oh man!" She said, letting go of the space bar and dropping back behind cover. Her whole torso began glowing on the indicator with her right and center torso armor becoming dark yellow and her left torso losing its armor and its structure becoming orange.

**Ruby's computer: Left torso, critical damage.**

"Thank you, Yang..." Ruby said sarcastically.

"Hey, you wanted to know how to jump, I told you." She said simply.

"Guys, have you been checking the score?" Weiss asked.

"No, I was busy being shot." Ruby said, "Why?"

"Because you're ahead, look!" Weiss pointed to the score at the top of the screen. The blue number was five while the red number was at four.

"When did that happen?" Ruby wondered aloud.

"Probably while you were getting shot and running for cover." Blake stated.

As Ruby's teammates began to move up on the platform, she noticed a missile volley being fired from the island in the middle of the red lake.

"There's an enemy all the way over there?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah, and he's too far away to be on your team's sensors, so nobody knows he's there" Blake pointed out.

"His LRMs are picking away at your team, someone has to go after him." Yang said.

Ruby tried firing her laser but accidentally clicked her mouse's scroll wheel which made her view zoom in. Now zoomed in, the girls could clearly see the _Awesome_ firing missiles from the island.

"Great, you can see him better, now what?" Weiss complained.

**Ally 2 [Dead] Team: Rose, go after that awesome and target it for the rest of the team**

"What, no." Ruby said, unintentionally shaking her mech's cockpit left and right.

"How does he know where that enemy is if he's dead?" Weiss asked.

"The game probably has a spectate mode if you die, so right now he's watching Ruby's screen." Blake guessed.

"That's kinda creepy..." Yang said, imagining people watching every move she made.

**Ally 2 [Dead] : its a missile boat. LRMs don't do damage within 180 meters.**

Ruby sighed and checked the score. 9 to 6.

"Okay, fine." She said, running out from behind cover and off the platform. She landed with a thud and her mech's legs started flashing and became yellow.

"And of course there's fall damage." Yang said.

Ruby went into the water and kept running toward the island.

**Ally 3 [Dead] : just dont show him your left torso**

The _Awesome_ turned and saw Ruby running towards it and started moving backwards. It held a red laser sight on Ruby and fired missiles from its left and right torso.

**Ruby's computer: Warning, incoming missile.**

"Quick Ruby, turn left!" Weiss told her.

"I know! Just let me drive!" Ruby said back.

Ruby turned left to avoid the missiles and protect her damaged torso, but most of them made contact, stripping the armor and most of the structure off her right arm and bringing her right torso armor into the red.

"Jeez, how many missiles did it fire?" Ruby exclaimed, finally making it to the island and returning fire with her ER large laser and machine guns. She began circling the _Awesome_ as it continued to reverse and fired two flickering red lasers from its right arm.

"Come on, where are the missiles..." Yang mumbled.

The _Awesome _fired its small pulse lasers at Ruby again, hitting her right arm and destroying the last of its structure. Her _Spider's_ right arm faded from the indicator and two machine guns on her weapon list were covered in red.

**Ruby's computer: Right arm, destroyed. Machine gun, destroyed.**

"Oh come on! Where are the missiles!" Weiss yelled out as Ruby continued circling the _Awesome_, now only firing two machine guns from her left arm. Volleys of missiles suddenly began to rain down on the _Awesome_.

"Finally!" Yang exclaimed.

"Ruby," Blake said, "I would recommend moving away to avoid being hit by your friendly missiles."

Ruby backed up as missiles continued to fall on the _Awesome_, who was alternating between firing its small pulse lasers at Ruby and firing its LRMs at Ruby's teammates. The score changed to 11 to 6.

"Come on, come on." Ruby whispered as she fired her ER large laser at the _Awesome's_ back, her machine gun stream becoming lost through the amount of missiles exploding on the _Awesome_. Suddenly everything stopped and the _Awesome_ crumpled and fell forward while music began playing. A message appeared saying Moonlight Rose had gotten a kill.

"Yes! I did it, that was so cool!" Ruby squealed, pumping her fists into the air. The screen switched to a scoreboard showing the stats of each player with 'Victory' above Ruby's team.

**Ally 2 : gg**

**Ally 10 All: good game**

**Enemy 5 : gg**

"Nice job sis." Yang complimented.

"I'll admit I was a bit worried," Blake admitted, "But you piloted your mech very well."

"I'm not sure what you two are talking about," Weiss said, then stood up and pointed at Ruby. "You were extremely reckless and only survived because you got lucky. You should have just targeted the mech for your team and not engaged it yourself."

"Oh come on Weiss, don't turn into your 'I'm right and you're wrong' mode." Yang groaned.

"But I am right!" Weiss said, "Ruby didn't play tactically and just rushed into battle. I would do a lot better."

"Is that a challenge I hear my dear teammate?" Ruby asked.

"Perhaps..." Weiss replied.

"Well then you're in luck," Blake announced, now sitting at another computer. "The computers just finished downloading Mechwarrior. We can play as soon as we make our accounts."

"Great!" Yang jumped out of her chair and grabbed Ruby and Weiss. "This is gonna be awesome! Just team RWBY on another whirlwind adventure, I love it!" She let go of her teammates and sat down at her computer.

"But this time I'm going to look up the controls." Weiss said, "We don't want to do what Ruby did and jump into enemy fire."

"Aw, come on." Ruby complained, "I didn't know what I was doing!"

"Exactly." Weiss said, opening the Mechwarrior Online website.

Blake giggled, "But you do have to admit it was kind of funny, like Ruby wanted the enemy to shoot her."

"Yeah." Yang agreed, then raised her hand in the air, "Oh oh, pick me! I wanna die, I wanna die!" Weiss, Blake and Yang started laughing.

"Come on guys!" Ruby said, but began to get caught in her team's contagious laughter. "Alright, I guess it was kinda funny." Then Ruby joined in the laughter. The girls were laughing so hard they didn't notice the computer lab door quietly close.

Ozpin sighed silently to himself, "Well, at least they found a way to enjoy themselves." He began walking down the hallway. "And hopefully, if everything goes as planned, they won't need to stop..."


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3,

New Recruits

"Come on guys, hurry up!" Ruby whined.

"The games are loading, Ruby." Blake said, "We can't do anything to make them go faster."

Ruby groaned and went back to looking over her Spider's stats.

"Hey Weiss, how did the site say to become friends?" Yang asked.

"It says you have to click on the button with the three silhouettes and type in the person's username." Weiss answered, looking down at the website on her scroll. Yang turned to Ruby.

"Well Ruby, why don't you send us invites while we wait."

"But you're not in the game yet." Ruby said.

"That shouldn't matter if we have accounts," Blake stated, "We will still get the invites even if we're not in the game."

"Oh, okay." Ruby clicked on the silhouette button and selected 'Add Friend'. "Alright, DustHeiress31413..." She said as she typed.

"I still can't believe someone already took Dust Heiress." Weiss grumbled.

"And sent!" Ruby announced as she hit confirm. She then clicked the Add Friend button again and typed in Blake's username. "ShadowCat..."

"You like cats, Blake?" Yang asked.

"Uh...yeah, kinda." She answered nervously.

"Okay." Ruby said, sending the invite. "And last but not least, Burning Dragon."

"And just in time too." Yang said as the game's mechlab finally loaded on the three computers. The silhouette buttons on the three girls' computers were blinking blue. They clicked the button to find Ruby's invite.

"Alright, now we can play!" Ruby said happily as her teammates accepted the friend requests.

"Not yet Ruby," Blake said, looking through the mechlab, "We have to decide what mechs to use."

"And I still need to configure my controls." Weiss added as she went into the game's settings.

"Awwwww!" Ruby whined.

Blake and Yang selected the second trial mech, a Firestarter. A slightly bigger mech than the Spider, the Firestarter was equipped with two medium lasers in each arm and one more in its center torso. The third light mech of the trials was a Jenner, a mech with humanoid legs and a long, stretched torso. In the small flap that was its left arm were three medium lasers, and in its right were three small lasers.

"So there's a few light mechs to choose from." Blake said.

"Yeah, but I want something with more firepower." Yang admitted, "Besides, I think Ruby will be our scout."

They clicked on the first of the three medium mechs, a Blackjack. With no head and large barrels for arms, it looked like a small Jagermech. It had a medium laser in each side torso and one in its left arm. In its right arm was a massive AC/20. They selected the next mech, a Centurion. It was a very buff looking mech with a fin on its left shoulder and a small fin on its head. Its right arm was bare but its left forearm was large and shield-like, and ended in a large four fingered claw. It had two medium pulse lasers in its center torso and three SRM 4s covered by a missile door in its left torso. Its SRMs were also upgraded with Artemis.

"I wonder what Artemis is?" Ruby said, now viewing the trial mechs with her teammates.

"Probably makes the missiles better or something." Yang guessed.

"Alright, now my controls are set." Weiss announced, saving her controls and exiting the settings. "What mech are you on?"

"The third medium mech," Ruby answered, "The Shadowhawk." The Shadowhawk was a tall mech with a rectangular block on its left torso. Protruding from the block were two AC/5s and on its right arm was a large barrel with a light-blue coating inside.

"What weapon is that?" Yang asked.

"Well, let's see..." Blake said, looking at the mech's stats, "It says it's a PPC."

"PPC?" Ruby questioned. She then pointed at Weiss, "Quick Weiss, look up what PPC means!"

"Okay, okay!" Weiss said and typed it into her scroll. "Okay, PPC means 'Particle Projector Cannon'."

"Particles? I guess that sounds cool." Yang said.

"Yeah, I think I'll try the Shadowhawk." Blake announced and set it to her current mech.

The girls continued looking through the mechs, now in the heavy class, starting with the Catapult. The mech was very odd looking with a curved, bullet-shaped torso and reverse-jointed legs. Its arms were two large missile pods, holding an LRM 15 and two Streak SRM 2s in each arm.

"Looks like this one is mainly a support mech." Ruby observed.

"Hm, it could be useful..." Weiss agreed.

The next mech, a Cataphract, had reverse-jointed legs as well, and a hunched over, headless body. Each arm had a medium laser and a large laser in each side torso. Its right torso also held an LB-X 10 Autocannon. The final heavy mech was a 75-ton Orion. Its components were very blocky with a triangular left shoulder and large barrels that made up its entire forearms. Each arm held a large laser and its left torso had two Streak SRM 2s. A large AC/10 was held in its right torso.

"Well, I think we'll need a support mech, so I'll choose the Catapult." Weiss decided and selected the mech.

"Okay, I guess that means I'll be playing an assault mech." Yang grinned and clicked the first assault mech, a Victor. It had a muscular torso and its left arm had two medium pulse lasers next to its hand. Its left torso housed two SRM 4s and an SRM 2. Its right arm ended with two, Ultra AC/5, gatling gun style barrels.

"Ooh, that looks fun." Yang said.

The next mech, a Highlander, had a very boxy torso and a short rectangular head. Its left torso had two Streak SRM 2s with one more in its left arm. Its right arm held an AC/10 and its right torso had two ER large lasers.

Ruby opened her mouth to speak, but was stopped by Weiss. "Ruby, I know what you're going to ask so I already looked it up, ER means 'Extended Range'."

"If it has more range, why would anyone use a regular large laser?" Yang asked.

"Well, an ER large laser has a longer range than a standard large laser, but it also generates more heat." Weiss explained.

"Right, heat." Yang said as she clicked on the last mech, "Like that's anything to worry about."

The final mech was the Atlas, just as ugly as it was in the trailer. In each massive arm were two medium lasers. The missile rack on its left torso held two LRM 15s with Artemis and its right torso held the large, triangular barrel of a Gauss Rifle.

"That doesn't look like the Atlas we saw in the trailer." Ruby said.

"Because it isn't." Blake stated. "The Atlas the trailer showed was an AS7-D, this one says it's an AS7-RS."

"So not only are there different mechs, but there are multiple types of each one?" Ruby questioned.

"Yup."

"Okay," Yang announced, "I think I'll choose the Victor."

"Does that mean we're all ready?" Ruby asked, beginning to jump out of her seat in excitement.

"I think so." Weiss said.

"Yes!" Ruby cried and stood on her chair with her finger pointed to the sky. "Now, Team RWBY is complete, and together, nothing will stand in out way! We will rise through the ranks in Mechwarrior Online! Nothing will be able to stop us! We will become the greatest Mechwarriors in the WORLD!" Ruby jumped back down into her chair and was about to click play, but paused. She sat staring at her computer for a few seconds as her friends wondered what happened.

"Um, Ruby? Are you okay?" Weiss asked.

A light blush formed on Ruby's face and she put one hand behind her head. "Uh, how do you play as a group in this game?"

Weiss, Blake and Yang all fell out of their chairs after hearing this. They were starting to have doubts about Ruby leading them in this game. Weiss sighed as she got back in her chair. She typed something into her scroll and then looked back at Ruby.

"Alright Ruby, click the silhouette button and go to 'Create Group'. Then invite friends. That's all." Ruby did as Weiss said and invited her three teammates. The silhouette buttons in their mechlabs began flashing as they received the invites. As each one accepted, they appeared in Ruby's group, until all four of them were in.

"Alright, NOW Team RWBY is complete, and together, nothing-"

"JUST HIT PLAY!"

"Okay, okay. Jeez..." Ruby clicked play and all four computers connected to a game.

River City

Game mode: Skirmish

Win Conditions: Destroy all enemy mechs. On time out most kills wins.

"River City?" Yang questioned.

"It looks like the game randomizes the maps." Weiss said.

"Which means depending on how many maps there are, it could take a while to see them all." Blake added.

The game went to the pre-match lobby showing both teams. Ruby and her teammates were put in Charlie Lance with their mechs being abbreviated to SDR-5K(C), CPLT-A1(C), SHD-2H(C), and VTR-9S(C).

"Why do all our mechs end with a C?" Ruby asked.

"I think it's how the game shows a trial mech." Blake said.

The match began and the girls' computers went through the start-up sequence. When they were able to move, Weiss, Blake and Yang tested their mech's controls.

"This actually controls pretty well." Blake said, moving her _Shadowhawk's_ torso around.

"I don't know..." Yang said, "It feels kinda clunky and slow..."

"You're piloting an 80 ton machine. What do you expect?" Weiss told her.

"Yeah! Something small like my Spider is really mobile!" Ruby agreed and started running around Yang's _Victor_.

"Hey! Stop it!" Yang said, trying to keep Ruby in her view. "Aren't you supposed to lead us or something?"

"Oh yeah." Ruby stopped behind Yang and looked around the map. She saw her team beginning to group-up across a body of water and around a few buildings. "Um, there! We should go with the rest of the team."

Weiss smiled, "Finally you have a good idea..."

The RWBY Lance began moving toward the rest of their team, with Ruby, being the fastest, rushing ahead. Weiss and Yang's mechs moved at 70 KPH while Blake's _Shadowhawk_ moved faster at 75 KPH.

**Weiss' computer: Warning, incoming missile.**

"What!? From where?" Weiss yelled, turning her _Catapult's_ torso left to see a small missile volley flying towards her. She turned forward again as the volley hit her left arm, its armor indicator flashing yellow. "I can see him but I can't target him!" She growled.

"Let me try..." Blake said, stopping and zooming in to where the missiles were fired from. Standing on the cliff was a small _Commando_. It fired its LRM 5 at Weiss again as Blake lined up her crosshairs on the mech's center torso and fired her PPC. It fired a large, light-blue bolt of energy that flew quickly at the _Commando_. Blake's Crosshairs turned red to indicate a hit.

"What was that?" Weiss asked.

"That was my PPC, apparently." Blake said.

"Aw, no fair!" Yang complained, "I wanna test out my weapons!" They continued walking towards their team when suddenly multiple red arrows appeared among the blue ones.

"Whoa!" Ruby screamed. The score changed to 1 to 1.

"Ruby, what is it?" Yang asked.

"You guys need to get here quick!" She answered, "There's a big battle going on here!"

The three girls finally made it to the buildings and the rest of their team. Weiss targeted one of the enemy mechs and fired her two LRM 15s. The missile bay doors on her mech's arms lifted and the missiles flew out, hitting the _Hunchback_ they were locked onto.

"Okay Ruby, what do we do now?" Weiss asked.

"Huh? Why me?" Ruby asked, zigzagging through her teammates to avoid fire.

"Because you were the one who wanted to play the game." Weiss said, "So, what do we do fearless leader?"

"Um..." Ruby thought as she continued running around. She fired her ER large laser at a _Thunderbolt_ and ran back to her lance. "Uh, okay. Weiss! Stay back here and keep giving us missile support."

"Okay." Weiss acknowledged.

Ruby's _Spider_ turned to Blake's mech. "Blake, you stay here and guard Weiss. Try and snipe with your PPC but mainly make sure no enemies get near Weiss or behind the team."

"Right."

"And Yang, you and me are going to join the brawl and do as much damage as possible."

"Finally!" Yang said and began walking to the main battle. Ruby followed as Weiss and Blake backed up and fired their long-range weapons. Yang made it to the brawl and began firing all her weapons at anything with a red arrow above them. The red bar on the right of her radar began to rapidly shoot up. Ruby ran up and fired her machine guns at a damaged _Centurion_, destroying its critical right torso. Its torso exploded and it fell, a message appearing saying Ruby got a kill. Yang continued to advance and focused her weapons on an enemy _Thunderbolt_. "Yeah! Take that you son of a-"

**Yang's computer: Heat level, critical.**

Suddenly, Yang's _Victor_ stopped moving and shut down. An alarm began sounding and her mech was covered in steam.

"What the heck!?" Yang yelled as she frantically moved her mouse.

"Yang, what happened?" Ruby asked, running up to Yang and shooting at the _Thunderbolt_.

"I don't know, it just shut down!" She replied. Her mech finally came back online and the _Thunderbolt_ began backing up. "Okay, it's back on. Now..." Yang fired all her pulse lasers, Ultra Ac/5s and SRMs. Her mech shut down again.

**Yang's computer: Heat level, critical. **

"Oh, come on!"

"Yang, you're using your mech's weapons too much." Weiss explained, "The site said firing weapons generates heat, and if you generate too much heat, your mech automatically shuts down."

"That would have been useful information to know!" Yang said back as the _Thunderbolt_ began advancing again. It fired its AC/10 and ER PPC at Yang's right arm, destroying its remaining armor and making its structure orange.

"No! Shoot me you big dummy!" Ruby said, shooting at the _Thunderbolt_ with her ER large laser and machine guns. It payed no attention to her and fired at Yang's arm again, destroying it.

**Yang's computer: Right arm, Destroyed. Ultra autocannon, destroyed.**

"I could really use help here!" Yang frantically said, still trying to move. Suddenly two missile volleys struck the _Thunderbolt_, causing it to back off. A friendly _Atlas_ walked up and finished off the _Thunderbolt_. The score changed to 6 to 2.

"You're welcome." Weiss said as her _Catapult_ walked around a building and Blake's _Shadowhawk_ jumped on top of it.

"Thanks ice queen." Yang smiled as her _Victor_ came back online. Weiss just rolled her eyes and fired her missiles at another enemy with Blake adding her PPC and AC/5s. Ruby and Yang began moving with their team again, now moving up a cliff-side to a large platform. An enemy _Jenner_ ran off the platform, using its jump jets to slow its fall, and kept running toward Weiss and Blake. It fired four medium lasers at Weiss, then used its jump jets again to leap over her.

"Stupid light..." Weiss mumbled and locked onto the _Jenner_. She fired her Streak SRMs and 8 missiles flew from her mech's arms and homed in on the fleeing light. The SRMs struck its back and the _Jenner_ jumped into the air again, turned around, and fired its medium lasers again.

"Watch out guys, there's another mech going after you!" Ruby warned as she pelted a _Stalker_ with machine gun fire. Blake turned around to see a _Cicada_ running towards her and Weiss.

"I'll get this one." She said, firing her PPC and chain firing her AC/5s. The Cicada returned fire with its four medium lasers and Ultra AC/5. As it ran nearer, Weiss and Blake's radar began to flicker and 'Low Signal' appeared on it.

"What's going on?" Weiss asked, "I can't lock onto the Jenner."

Blake turned to the _Jenner_ and tried to target it, but wasn't able to. She turned back to the _Cicada_, whose info was flickering. She noticed 'ECM' above the pilot name.

"That's it!" She realized, and started unloading her weapons on it. "Weiss, that Cicada's ECM is somehow cloaking its teammates. We have to destroy it."

"Alright!" Weiss agreed, locking onto it and firing her SSRMs. The _Jenner_, not liking being ignored, shot its medium and small lasers at Weiss' left torso. The _Cicada_ focused its fire at Weiss' torso, destroying its armor. Blake maneuvered behind the _Cicada_ and fired at its weak rear torso. The _Cicada's_ rear torso exploded and it fell, taking its ECM cover with it. With its cover gone, the _Jenner_ shot one more time at Weiss then began running away.

**Weiss' computer: Left torso, critical damage.**

"Oh no you don't..." Weiss growled and locked onto the _Jenner_ with her LRMs. She fired, sending thirty missiles towards the fleeing _Jenner_. It turned right, trying to avoid the missiles but was still hit, the LRMs destroying the structure in its right torso and its XL engine. The score became 9 to 3.

"Nice job Weiss." Blake complimented.

"Humph, serves him right." Weiss said as she and Blake began moving to the platform.

"You take care of those two?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah," Blake answered, "How are you and Yang doing?"

**Yang's computer: Left leg, critical damage.**

"Oh, you want some!? I swear, I'll- Get back here!"

"Oh..." Blake said flatly.

"I thought as much..." Weiss sighed.

On the platform, Ruby began chasing the _Commando_ that had just shot Yang. Yang tried to keep up, but with her _Victor's_ slow speed, she instead turned her attention to a brawl between an enemy _Banshee_ and a friendly _Jagermech _next to a large ship. Yang targeted the _Banshee_ and her enemy indicator showed it was equipped with three AC/5s and four medium pulse lasers. She fired her pulse lasers and SRMs at its center torso as it finished off the _Jagermech_.

**Yang's computer: Heat level, critical.**

"Oh come on..." She thought as she backed off to let her mech cool down. The _Banshee_ turned towards Yang and started shooting every part of her mech it could.

**Yang's computer: Left leg, destroyed. SRM ammo, destroyed. **

"Yang, hold on!" Ruby cried and broke off her pursuit of the _Commando_. Yang limped back as the Banshee continued to fire at her. On her radar, a blue arrow was moving behind Yang. The _Highlander_ behind Yang used its jump jets to fly out from behind her and fired its SSRMs and AC/20 at the _Banshee_, with every shot hitting its center torso, destroying the rest of its armor and damaging its structure.

"Now's my chance!" Yang thought as she fired all her SRMs, using the remaining ammo, and her pulse lasers at once, causing a large heat spike. "Run hot or die, A-hole!"

**Yang's computer: Heat level, critical.**

Yang's _Victor_ shut down as her lasers and missiles stuck the _Banshee's_ center torso, destroying the remaining structure. Yang sat back in her chair and breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh God... That was close..."

"Yang! Are you alright?" Ruby asked.

"Oh yeah, totally fine." She replied, "I'm just missing two limbs and have no SRM ammo, but other than that..."

"At least you're still alive." Blake said, her _Shadowhawk_ jumping onto the building next to Yang.

Yang shrugged as her _Victor_ came back online, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

The friendly _Highlander_ began moving to the rest of the team as Weiss' _Catapult_ walked up. "So, does anyone know where the last enemy is?" She asked.

"I don't see him on the radar," Yang said, "Maybe no one's around him?"

"Or like Blake said, he could have an ECM." Ruby said, finally rejoining her teammates.

"But that means he could be anywhere!" Weiss exclaimed, "We would have to search the entire map!"

"Weiss! That's no way to talk!" Ruby said and used her _Spider's_ jump jets to fly up to the top of the large ship and turned back to her teammates. "We are Team RWBY, the greatest team in the history of Beacon! We can not just give up because a task seems too hard! We, as Huntresses and Mechwarriors in-training, have an obligation to eliminate all evil, and to help everyone, be they human or faunus, or if they live in Vale or River City!"

"River City? There's no people here." Yang whispered.

"The enemy will never be able to defeat us! We, Lance RWBY, will defend Mechwarrior Online from all evil at any cost! And if they think they can stop us, then-"

The match ended as victory music played and the match score appeared on the screen. The end score was 12 to 5 with each of the girls getting a kill.

**Ally 4 : gg**

**Ally 7 : gg**

**Enemy 6 All: GG**

**Enemy 10 : gg**

"Aw..." Ruby sighed.

"It's OK, Ruby." Blake consoled, "It really was a good speech."

"Yeah!" Weiss agreed, "And we all survived the match and we each even got a kill."

"I guess..." Ruby said. All four computers changed to a loading screen.

"So, another match?" Yang suggested.

"Already?" Blake said.

"Yang, remember that we got lucky just now. Not every match is going to be like this." Weiss told her.

"I know, but it was really fun! It's not like we have anything else to do!"

Weiss sighed, "Well, it's our leader's decision." She turned to Ruby, "What do you want to do Ruby?"

"Sure!" Ruby said, exited that her teammates finally wanted to do something together. Their computers loaded and they all returned to the mechlab with their mechs being auto-selected. "Okay! Now it's time for Lance RWBY's second match!"

"Hold on Ruby." Blake said.

"What?" Ruby asked.

Blake was looking at the bottom left of her screen, "Does your C-Bill count have anything?" The girls all glanced at their C-Bills.

"Yeah, it says I have 280,370 C-Bills." Weiss answered.

"Right, mine says I have 290,423." Blake said.

"Ha! I have 302,710 bills! I'm finally richer than you, Weiss." Yang teased and began dancing in her chair.

Weiss smiled, "In virtual currency, yes."

Yang stopped dancing and frowned, "Always there to ruin my fun..."

Weiss turned to look at Ruby, who was giggling at Yang's comment. "Ruby, how many C-Bills do you have?"

"Um..." Ruby said, checking her C-Bill count, "609,852."

"What!" Yang exclaimed, "How come you have twice as much as we do?"

"Because she played a match alone before us, remember?" Blake reminded her.

"Oh yeah..." Yang said and leaned back in her chair, "Oh well, at this rate we'll have all the C-Bills in wherever this takes place anyway."

"I wouldn't be so sure..." Weiss said, searching something on her scroll.

"Why?" Yang asked.

"Because according to the Mechwarrior site, a new player gains a cadet bonus for their first twenty-five matches." Weiss explained, "After that, the average income becomes about 50,000 C-Bills."

"That's it? That's like, less than half what we just made!" Yang complained.

"Then I suggest we make the best of our first matches." Blake said.

Yang sighed, "No kidding..."

"So, does that mean we're ready for another awesome match?" Ruby asked, full of enthusiasm.

"Sure..." Yang said, still somewhat slumped over.

"Okay, I think I'll stick with the Shadowhawk." Blake confirmed.

"Yeah, I'll keep using the Catapult for now." Weiss said, "Alright, we're ready."

"Yay!" Ruby squeaked and clicked play, loading the girls into another game. "This is Lance RWBY of Beacon, dropping into another match!"

* * *

**Welp, there we go, all four of the girls in a match together. Man, gameplay is hard to write! And for the people who actually like this story, updates may take a bit longer now. I've been focusing on getting to the point where Team RWBY plays the game together and now that it's there, I probably won't be typing as frequently as I have been. But I will eventually update again, as my new journey making fanfiction is not yet over! So until then, please enjoy what I have written so far, and goodbye!**


	5. Chapter 4

**Hello! Samybliz here, bringing you another chapter of RWBY Plays Mechwarrior Online! How's the story so far? Like I said before, writing isn't really my thing... But! I shall persevere! For the Fandom! For the fun! For the fact that I don't have anything better to do with my miserable time! Also, I just saw RWBY Chapter 10 on YouTube, and is it just me, or should Ruby have easily been able to take out those two guys with her speed? I don't know. Anyway, please enjoy this next chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 4,

The Cost Of War

"Lance RWBY of Beacon?" Weiss questioned.

"Dropping into a match?" Blake added.

"What? I thought it sounds cool..." Ruby said softly.

"Yeah," Yang defended, "The four of us are in a lance, and we probably get to these maps by being dropped from one of those big ships."

"Speaking of maps.." Blake said as their screens loaded.

Frozen City Night

Game Mode: Conquest

Win Conditions: Collect 750 Resources, Destroy All Enemy Players, On Time Out Most Kills Win

"Collecting resources?" Ruby asked.

"Yup. A different game mode with another objective." Blake stated.

"At least fighting over resources makes more sense than just random fighting." Weiss pointed out.

"But the random fighting is more fun!" Yang complained. The screens switched to the pre-match lobby.

"Well, a win condition is destroy all enemy players, but I think our team will want to collect resources." Blake said. Yang just crossed her arms and pouted as a message from their team appeared in the chat.

**Ally 4 Team: hey charlie lance you guys have trial or champion mechs?**

"Champion mechs? What are those?" Yang asked.

"How should we know?" Weiss answered.

"Well, I think I should tell the team." Ruby said, clicking the 'Team' button on the chat and typing her response.

**Moonlight Rose Team: We're all trial.**

"So I assume the (C) on each of our mechs means they are champion?" Weiss suggested.

"But what's the difference between a trial and a champion mech?" Yang questioned.

"It looks like this game is going to be quite the learning experience for us..." Blake said.

**Ally 4 Team: ah**

**Ally 6 Team: huh, rare to see a group form before theyve even bought mechs**

The timer hit zero and the match began. Looking around the map, the girls saw they were in a frozen tundra. The buildings around them were covered in snow. Behind them was the Gamma Resource Collector, which was already fully controlled. The Epsilon, Theta and Kappa Collectors appeared yellow on the HUD and the Sigma Collector across the map was already controlled by the enemy team.

"Okay, now remember, the main objective is to collect resources, not to kill everyone. Got it, Yang?" Weiss said as the team began moving to the Epsilon Collector.

"Yes mom..." Yang said sarcastically. Ruby followed the other light mechs on her team to Epsilon as the Kappa Collector on the HUD began flashing.

"Looks like they're already at Kappa." Blake stated. Ruby reached Epsilon and entered the laser barrier surrounding it, causing Epsilon to flash on the HUD.

"Okay, at least we're staying even." Weiss said. Just then the Theta indicator began flashing.

"Or not." Blake said as she grouped up with Ruby at Epsilon. The Kappa indicator turned red and its bar began filling. The enemy resource count began to slowly go up as well.

"Great, now we're behind." Weiss groaned as she and Yang made it to Epsilon with the rest of the team.

"Not by much." Ruby reassured her as Epsilon became blue. "See? Now both teams have two collectors." The team began moving, leaving behind an _Orion_ to fill Epsilon's capture bar. They walked by the wreckage of a large ship and an _Atlas_ and _Stalker_ broke off the group and moved behind it.

"I wonder why they're going behind the ship." Weiss thought aloud.

Ruby giggled, "Don't you mean dropship?" Weiss ignored her as Yang snickered.

"They might be LRM boats," Blake offered, "If they are then it would make sense for them to stay behind cover and at far range."

"I think you're right..." Weiss said and followed the two assault mechs.

**Ally 5 Team: LRMs behind the dropship, please give us targets**

"Thought so." Blake said.

"Yeah..." Weiss said, then glanced back at the chat before it faded, "Wait, he just said dropship!" The three girls turned their heads and looked at Yang, who put her hands up defensively.

"I swear, I had no idea it was really called that!" They turned back to their screens and Yang smiled slightly, "But since it is called that, Yang 3, Weiss 0."

Weiss shook her head, "Why me?"

"Yang, I can't believe one of your worst puns turned out to be right." Ruby said, somewhat impressed.

"Yup, quite the learning experience indeed..." Blake thought as her team moved past the dropship and into an assortment of snow-covered buildings. The Theta indicator continued blinking as a friendly _Blackjack_ ran off a cliff next to the team and continued towards Theta.

"I'm gonna help the Blackjack at Theta," Ruby said, jumping off the cliff along with a _Jenner_, "You guys stay here with the rest of the team."

"Actually, wouldn't it be safer for us to stay together?" Blake suggested.

"Oh, don't worry Blake," Yang said to her partner, "We have an Atlas and a Battlemaster with us. And our Orion is coming back. We'll be fine." Blake and Yang began walking towards a small hill when a _Victor_ and a _Kintaro_ crested it and fired.

"Ah! Freaking-" Yang yelled as she and Blake returned fire.

"Yeah, you'll be fine..." Weiss sighed and locked onto the enemy _Kintaro_. She fired her LRMs with her _Stalker_ and _Atlas_. The _Atlas_ and _Battlemaster_ moved past Blake and Yang to fight the enemies close range.

"Alright, now things are getting interesting!" Yang said as her _Victor_ began walking behind the assault mechs, "Come Blake, to battle!"

Blake sighed and smiled slightly before following Yang, "Ruby, how are things at Theta?"

"Oh, you know, fine except for this stupid Centurion!" Ruby replied as she ran around Theta shooting her machine guns at a red and white _Centurion_. It fired the AC/20 in its right arm at Ruby, hitting her _Spider's_ left arm and destroying its armor and most of its structure. "Can I get some support here?"

"On its way!" Weiss said as she targeted the _Centurion_ and fired her LRMs. Ruby continued firing at the _Centurion_ with the help of her friendly _Blackjack_. The _Centurion_ turned its torso right, blocking the shots with its large shield-arm. It turned back and fired its AC/20 at the _Blackjack_, destroying its left torso. Weiss' missiles began to rain down on the _Centurion's_ right side as it fired its two medium pulse lasers at the _Blackjack's_ left torso, the damage dealt to the destroyed component passing into the center torso. The _Blackjack_ jumped back and turned left in mid-air, trying to protect its left side. The friendly _Jenner_ ran behind the _Centurion_ and fired its small lasers and SRMs at its back, but was almost immediately destroyed by multiple enemy PPCs. Red arrows appeared as an _Orion_ and a _Cataphract_ walked up behind the damaged _Centurion_.

"Ruby! You can't do anything against all those guys! Get back to the main group!" Yang told her sister as she finished off the enemy _Kintaro_.

"But..."

"Ruby, you can't capture Theta with all those enemies there." Weiss said, firing another LRM volley at the _Centurion. _

Ruby shook her head, "I don't care about Theta! I just can't leave this Blackjack here to die!" The _Orion_ fired two of its PPCs at Ruby, hitting her _Spider's_ torso.

**Ruby's computer: Right torso, critical damage. **

"If you don't run, you'll die too!" Blake said.

Weiss turned in her chair and put a hand on Ruby's shoulder while she continued avoiding fire from the enemy mechs. "Ruby, listen. I know it's hard, but sometimes there is no other way. Sometimes sacrifices have to be made for the sake of the team." Ruby turned her head and looked at her partner with almost teary eyes.

"Yeah. And besides, this is just a game. It's not real." Yang pitched in.

Ruby sighed and looked back at the screen. Her friendly _Blackjack_ was fighting in Theta, trying to keep it neutral as long as he could. The _Orion_ fried at Ruby again, destroying the armor on her _Spider's_ right arm, but then shut down as it overheated. She was about to rush in to help the _Blackjack_, but was cut off by the _Centurion_, who had lost its left arm due to Weiss' missiles. It fired its AC/20, just barely missing Ruby as she fired her laser at it, then turned and ran.

"I'm sorry..." She whispered as she ran from the battle, leaving the _Blackjack_ at Theta. She moved up a snow-covered ramp to where her team was as the _Blackjack's_ arrow disappeared from the radar and the enemy's score went up by one. Ruby sulked as she made it to her teammates.

"It's okay Ruby." Weiss consoled, "Yang's right, it's just a game. The Blackjack pilot is fine."

"Really?" Ruby asked.

"Of course." Weiss answered.

"Alright, now that we've established the guy isn't really dead, how about some help over here!" Yang said as she traded shots with an enemy _Atlas_. She glanced at her friendly _Battlemaster_ and _Atlas_, which was missing both arms, as they fought a damaged _Victor_ and a _Hunchback_.

"I would if I could lock-on to anything you were fighting!" Weiss exclaimed, unable to lock-on to any of the enemy mechs.

"One of them must have an ECM!" Blake stated as she switched through her targets, trying to find the ECM carrier. "There! Yang, it's the Atlas you're fighting! The AS7-D-DC."

"Right!" Yang replied, alpha striking all her weapons on the _Atlas'_ left torso, destroying most of the component's armor. The _Atlas_ retaliated by firing its large pulse lasers and three SRM 6s at Yang's center torso, then it fired its LB-X 10, the shot spreading into ten projectiles.

"Was that a giant shotgun?" Ruby asked as she ran around the _Atlas_ and pelted it with machine gun fire.

"Yup." Yang answered, "Except this guy has no right to use it!" She fired all her weapons again, causing her _Victor's_ heat to rise despite the cold map. Yang's pulse lasers struck the _Atlas'_ left arm while her UAC/5s and SRMs hit its left torso, destroying the rest of the armor. Blake walked out from behind Yang and added her AC/5s. The _Atlas_ fired its LB-X 10 and SRMs at Yang then turned and shot Blake with its large pulse lasers.

**Yang's computer: Center torso, critical damage.**

"Weiss! Where is the missile support!" Yang yelled as she turned to protect her torso.

"I still can't lock-on to anything!" Weiss yelled back, her friendly _Stalker_ and _Atlas_ beginning to move around the dropship. "You need to do something about that thing's ECM before I can help!"

"Almost..." Ruby whispered as she fired at the _Atlas' _now unarmored rear torso while it continued to brawl with Blake and Yang. Blake chain-fired her AC/5s as Yang shot all her weapons again, shutting her mech down but destroying the _Atlas'_ left torso.

**Yang's computer: Heat level, critical. SRM ammo, at 25%.**

"Yang, you did it! I can lock-on to it now!" Weiss cried and fired her LRMs.

"Haha!" Yang laughed and pointed her finger at the _Atlas_ on her computer screen as her _Victor_ came back online. "Take that you stupid, skull-faced, invisible-" The _Atlas_ fired its pulse laser and LB-X 10 at Yang, hitting her center torso and turning its structure red. "Ow!"

"Yang, you can't survive another hit!" Blake told her partner.

"Oh crap! No no no!" Yang began to back up and turned her torso, attempting to protect her center torso. The _Atlas_ advanced, ignoring Blake's AC as it waited for its weapons to reload. Suddenly it fell forward, its rear structure destroyed as a message appeared saying Moonlight Rose had gotten a kill.

"Yes! Nobody messes with my teammates!" Ruby cheered.

"Whew... That was close..." Yang shook her head and checked the score. 8 to 3, with the resource score being 227 to 412.

"Great, now that that's over, we should really focus on getting resources." Weiss suggested as the team regrouped.

"Actually Weiss, at this point it would be better to finish off the rest of the team." Blake pointed out, "We outnumber the enemy, so it shouldn't be too hard."

"Right!" Yang agreed as the team began moving, "We still have most of our team, it'll be no problem!" Just then, two large lasers fired from behind a building and hit Yang's center torso, destroying its structure. Her screen switched to a third-person view as her _Victor_ fell forward into the snowy ground. "What the hell!" She exclaimed as her camera began circling her dead mech.

"Yang! No!" Ruby cried, her _Spider_ running to Yang's fallen mech. "Yang, please... You can't leave me! Please... You were always there for me... You were the strongest person at Beacon..."

"Uh, hello? I'm right here Ruby!" Yang said, waving her arms to get Ruby's attention.

"You were the best at keeping in character to enhance the experience for your sister!" Ruby wept and began fake crying.

Yang rolled her eyes, "Oh, I get it."

Weiss and Blake looked at their friend with concerned faces. "Uh, Ruby?" Blake asked, "You do know that Yang is-"

"Shh," Yang said, clicking her mouse to spectate Ruby, "Let her have this moment."

The enemy _Cataphract_ and _Orion_ Ruby had fought at Theta walked up a snowy ramp, with the red and white _Centurion_ behind them. They began firing as Ruby's friendly _Battlemaster_ and _Atlas_ began moving in for close combat while Weiss and the friendly _Stalker_ fired their LRMs. The two large lasers fired again, hitting Weiss and the _Stalker_ next to her.

"Hey, I'm gonna see if I can find this guy." Ruby said and began running to where the lasers were fired from.

"Be careful Ruby, remember your right torso is critical." Blake warned.

"Don't worry Blake." Ruby assured, "This guy's gonna pay for what he did to Yang!" Yang just smiled and shook her head. As Ruby ran nearer to where the lasers were fired from, her radar began losing signal.

"Oh great, so the guy who killed me has ECM..." Yang complained. Ruby continued searching and as she turned the corner she found the source of the ECM; a _Raven_. The thirty-five ton, bird-like mech had its back to Ruby as it peeked out from behind the building and fired its two ER large lasers.

"There you are..." Ruby growled and fired her laser into the _Raven's_ back. It instantly started running and Ruby gave chase, shooting her machine guns as she ran after the enemy mech.

"Yeah! It's payback time!" Yang yelled. The _Raven_ turned its torso left and right as it ran, trying to see the mech that was behind it. Ruby continued firing her machine guns as she chased the _Raven_ into the main firefight. It shot at Ruby's friendly mechs as the _Atlas_ finished off the enemy _Cataphract_. The _Battlemaster_ turned and, upon seeing its attacker, fired its six medium pulse lasers and large laser, easily destroying the _Raven's_ left leg. The _Battlemaster_ advanced on the now limping _Raven_ as its lasers recharged, then fired at its right leg, destroying it and the light mech.

"Okay, so you die if you lose both legs." Yang noted.

"And if you lose your center torso." Blake added.

"Good to know." Weiss said. The _Battlemaster_ turned and focused on the enemy _Orion_ as it chain fired its three PPCs at the _Atlas_, destroying its left torso. As it turned, the enemy _Centurion_ walked up and shot the _Atlas'_ right torso with its AC/20, destroying it and the rest of the _Atlas'_ weapons. Ruby targeted the _Centurion_ and started firing.

"Weiss! Blake! Help out with the Orion! The Centurion's right arm and center torso are critical! I can take him myself!" Ruby ordered as she ran around the medium mech, focusing her fire on its arm.

"Alright, but be careful." Weiss said, targeting the _Orion_ and firing her LRMs. Blake moved up next to the _Battlemaster_ and began chain firing her AC/5s. Ruby circled the _Centurion_, pelting it with her machine guns as it tried to line up its massive AC/20. It fired, the AC shot just barely missing Ruby as she stopped behind it and shot her laser at its arm. The _Centurion's_ right arm on the target indicator flashed and became red.

"Come on, just a little more!" Ruby said, circling the mech again as it turned around. She fired her machine guns as she waited for her laser to recharge. The _Centurion_ gave up trying to hit the light mech and fired its AC and medium pulse lasers at the _Battlemaster_.

"Wow Ruby, your machine guns are so pathetic he's ignoring you." Yang said sarcastically. Ruby didn't respond and continued shooting the _Centurion_.

"I think Ruby still isn't listening to you." Blake told her.

"Who am I not listening to?" Ruby asked.

"Yang." Weiss responded.

Ruby began to get teary-eyed. "But Yang is dead!" Yang just shook her head.

"Just hurry up and win so I can play again..."

The _Battlemaster_ fired its pulse lasers at the _Orion_, killing it but shutting down because of the heat. Ruby ran up to the _Centurion_ as it carefully aimed at the _Battlemaster's_ rear center torso and fired. The girls couldn't see their friendly mech's indicator, but they guessed its rear torso was critical. Ruby fired at the last enemy mech as missiles began to rain down on it. She shot her ER large laser at the _Centurion's_ right arm and it blew off, its structure being destroyed.

"Haha! No more big gun for you!" Ruby cheered as the _Battlemaster_ came back online and turned to the _Centurion_. It fired all its weapons, trying to get the killing blow, but only hit its right torso. It overheated from the resulting heat spike and shut down again.

"Jeez, man. Watch your heat." Yang commented.

"You're one to talk." Weiss said as she rolled her eyes.

"Hey! That was my first match!" Yang pointed out.

The missile volleys struck the _Centurion_, turning its center torso structure red. "Now's my chance!" Ruby thought as she ran to the front of the mech and fired her weapons, her laser easily destroying the remaining structure. The mech fell back as the victory music began to play and the match score appeared on-screen.

**Ally 4 Team: gg**

**Ally 6 All: good game**

Weiss sighed and leaned back as Blake and Yang high-fived and turned to Ruby, only to find her sniffling slightly.

"Ruby? What's wrong?" Weiss asked, "Why are you sad? We won!"

Ruby turned and looked at Weiss with tears in her eyes. "Yeah, but at what cost?" The three girls turned to each other with confused faces.

"Um, no cost?" Yang offered. Ruby's eyes instantly lit up and she rushed out of her chair in a blur and hugged Yang.

"Yang! You're okay!" Weiss and Blake facepalmed as Yang fought to get Ruby off of her, not used to her sister bear hugging her. Finally she was able to pry her off and hold her.

"Yes Ruby! I'm okay! But seriously, you can't act like this each time one of us dies in this game, okay?"

"Okay..." Ruby said, pouting and returning to her chair. The score screen faded and the girls were taken back to the mechlab. "How much time do we have left?"

"Enough time for a few more matches." Blake answered.

"Yay!" Ruby cheered and clicked play. The others giggled at Ruby's enthusiasm for the game and waited for a match to be found until Ruby spoke up again. "Um, by the way, what's a Yen Lo Wang?"

"Yen Lo Wang?" Weiss repeated.

"Yeah."

"I don't know. Where did you see it?" Blake asked.

"That Centurion in the match we just played." Ruby answered, "You know when you target a mech and you see what it is? Like 'Atlas AS7-D' or 'Centurion CN9-A'?" The girls nodded. "Well, when I targeted the Centurion, it said 'Yen-Lo-Wang' instead of CN9 whatever."

"Huh, that's odd." Weiss said.

"I guess it's just another thing we'll find out eventually." Blake observed as the game connected to a match.

"Sounds cool though." Yang said, "Kinda sounds like it's the same style as my name."


	6. Chapter 5

**Hello! I wrote some more, here's a new chapter, blah blah blah. How about that finale though! Looks like things are getting serious now! A bit too soon in my opinion but it's still awesome! And I'm really looking forward to seeing what else the Grimm have in store considering they are a huge threat even with the human's and faunus' firepower. And then the mystery woman! I think I'm gonna put 3 million C-Bills on her being Yang's sister. Alright, anyway...Please enjoy this chapter, and let's see if I can get another one written before volume 3!**

Chapter 5,

Learning The Ropes

* * *

Forest Colony

Game Mode: Assault

Win conditions: Capture The Enemy Base, Destroy All Enemy Players, On Time Out Most Kills Win

"Alright, a new map and a new game mode." Blake said.

"Yes, and hopefully this time we can actually follow the main win condition." Weiss agreed, glad there were multiple game modes with objectives.

"So, what's the plan?" Yang asked as the match started. The map was a lightly forested area with a large body of water on the left side. In the water were three large, tall tower-like rocks and an overturned cargo ship. In front of the team was the base, a small mobile command center surrounded by a laser barrier, and around it were five turrets. On the HUD, a red and blue bar were under their respective team score.

"I think we should just follow the team until we understand the maps." Ruby answered, turning to the Alpha and Bravo lances as they began walking along the right side of the map.

"Good idea." Weiss said as the girls followed their teammates. Ruby ran after the quicker lights, a _Jenner_ and a _Firestarter_, but stopped under a natural-forming bridge. The _Jenner_ ran off to the left while the _Firestarter_ ran into a cave to the right.

"Um..." Ruby said, turning her _Spider's_ torso left and right. "Which way should I go?"

"Well, wait for the rest of the team to get there and see where they go." Blake told her, walking up with a _Wolverine_. It walked to the mouth of the cave then stopped and turned around, seemingly waiting for the others. Suddenly, red arrows appeared on the other end of the cave as the _Firestarter's_ blue arrow began moving frantically on the girl's HUDs.

"Looks like someone found the enemies." Weiss said as she and Yang made it to the bridge with the rest of their team. A _Banshee_, _Atlas_ and an _Orion_ filed into the cave with the _Wolverine_ following them. An _Awesome_ and a _Quickdraw_ ran to the left path moving next to the cave. The _Firestarter's_ arrow disappeared and the enemy score went up by one. "Great..." She grumbled, "One down already and it looks like it's going to be another brawl."

"Well, okay, being a man down sucks, but woohoo! Another brawl!" Yang exclaimed and followed the mechs into the cave.

"Weiss, stay back and use your LRMs." Ruby said, following Yang into the cave, "Blake, follow the Awesome and Quickdraw. If I'm reading the radar right, the left path leads next to the cave, so we can hit the enemy from two spots on the same side." The others looked at Ruby with surprised faces.

"Wow Ruby, you've never shown this kind of command before..." Blake said, full of admiration for the younger girl.

"Why can't you act this way in real-life?" Weiss asked, half sarcastically. Blake and the other two mechs moved up, walking toward a hill with a large radar dish. An enemy _Blackjack_ appeared on the hill and fired its Gauss Rifle at the friendly _Awesome_. The gauss slug hit its left torso, causing sparks to fly everywhere as the assault mech returned fire. The _Blackjack_ ducked behind the hill before the lasers could hit but it took damage from the _Jenner_ that had snuck up behind it. With the _Jenner_ keeping lock, Weiss fired her LRMs, hitting the _Blackjack_.

"Come on! Move it!" Yang yelled.

"Yang, what is it?" Blake asked, firing at the _Blackjack_ as it poked over the hill.

"These freaking guys won't get out of the way!" Yang replied, walking into the backs of the friendly assault mechs. The _Atlas _and _Banshee _were stopped at the cave's exit and were firing their weapons at the enemies outside.

"Just calm down, Yang." Ruby said, standing back with the _Orion_.

"But I wanna fight!" Yang complained and tried to push her teammates again. Finally, the two assault mechs began walking forward into the firefight. "Finally! Here comes the fun part!" Yang said, nearly bouncing out of her chair as she walked out of the cave and began firing at every enemy in sight. "YEAH! This is AWESOME!" She yelled as she rushed at the enemy mechs.

"And of course our local brawler does what she does best..." Weiss said, shaking her head, "I just hope that she's learned enough so that she-"

**Yang's computer: Heat level, critical.**

"Nope." Ruby said, running to help her sister. Weiss and Blake just sighed.

"Oh come on!" Yang angrily said as she moved back to let her mech cool down, "Blake, remind me to look at this thing's stats again after this match."

"Fine." Blake replied, moving up with the _Awesome_ and _Quickdraw_ to the brawl. The _Quickdraw_ used its jump jets to fly up onto the hill to finish off the damaged _Blackjack_. Blake followed the _Awesome_ into the brawl and immediately turned her attention to a _Cataphract_, which was firing its three AC/5s at Ruby, but was mostly unsuccessful in its hits. Suddenly, Blake was shot from the left, but as she turned she was unable to locate her attacker amidst the enormous brawl between both teams. "Ugh, this is crazy! How are we supposed to fight like this!" She yelled, firing at the _Cataphract_ as each component on her armor indicator flashed, seemingly at random.

"Don't think, just fight!" Yang replied as she charged an _Awesome_, the enemy mech shutting down due to its all-energy loadout.

"She's right, Blake." Ruby said, running through the brawl, "Just shoot everything with a red arrow." Blake sighed but continued fighting, destroying the _Cataphract_ with the help of her friendly _Atlas_. She then turned and walked over to help Yang with the _Awesome_, but as she reached her, red smoke appeared on the ground right at their feet.

"What the heck is that?" Yang asked, moving her mech's torso down to look at the smoke.

"Whatever it is it can't be good." Blake said, her gut telling her to move away from the smoke. Suddenly, Blake and Yang were surrounded by massive explosions, seemingly coming from nowhere.

"WHAT THE HELL!?" Yang yelled as her cockpit rattled with each explosion.

"I knew this wasn't good!" Blake said, gritting her teeth as if she was actually in her mech. Finally the explosions stopped and the two were able to collect themselves.

**Yang's computer: Left arm, destroyed. Medium pulse laser, destroyed. Ultra autocannon ammo, destroyed. Left torso, critical damage.**

**Blake's computer: Left arm, destroyed. Left torso, critical damage. Center torso, critical damage. **

"What. The. Hell. Was. That!" Yang huffed, looking around to see what could have had that much firepower.

"I don't know, but at least we're still alive..." Blake sighed, noting that the explosions had destroyed 10% of her mech's total health. "Barley..."

"What happened?" Weiss asked as she moved to her teammate's position.

"We blew up!" Yang said, "When I find the guy that did this, I'm gonna-"

"Bye-bye spaceship!" The three girls turned their heads to look at Ruby, who was looking at a ship flying away from them.

"Spaceship?" Yang questioned.

"Yeah! I just noticed it!" Ruby said cheerfully. Blake thought for a moment, then her eyes went wide as the realization hit her.

"Oh my God..." She said slowly.

"Blake? What is it?" Yang asked.

"It makes sense," Blake said, turning to Yang, "The smoke, the explosions, the ship flying away! Yang, we were caught in an airstrike!"

"An airstrike!?" Yang repeated.

"Of course! It makes sense!" Weiss realized, "The enemy marks a spot with the red smoke, then a few seconds later a ship flies over and drops bombs on the area!"

"What..." Ruby said as if she was struck, then she turned her _Spider_ and looked back up to where the ship had flown off, "You stupid ship! Messing with a young girl's heart like that, that's just evil!"

Yang sighed, "Note for future games, run away from red smoke..."

"No kidding..." Blake agreed, then started looking around, "Um, guys? What happened to the brawl?" The girls started looking around only to find dead mechs. They then checked the score. 6 to 8.

"W-we're the last ones left..." Weiss stuttered.

"When the heck did that happen?" Yang asked, walking around a few small buildings.

"Looks like things can happen rather quickly in this game." Blake said.

"Hey guys, look. We're close to the enemy base! Wanna go capture it?" Ruby asked, turning her _Spider_ to a path which led down and to the right.

"Might as well. It's not like we can brawl in this condition anyway." Weiss said and walked up behind Ruby.

"Oh, come on Weiss. That's quitter talk!" Yang said.

"Yang, you're missing an arm and two weapons!" Weiss told her, "You and Blake both have a critical side torso and Ruby's armor is in bad shape! The only one not damaged is me, and LRMs aren't going to be useful in a brawl!"

"She's right, Yang. We should try to avoid any more fighting and just capture the base." Blake said to her partner. Yang frowned but complied, following her teammates down the path. Suddenly, a warning appeared on each of the girl's screens saying; 'Base Under Attack'.

"What!?" Yang exclaimed, turning her mech's torso toward their base.

"They went behind us to get our base!" Weiss said, turning her mech and walking back to their base.

"Wait." Ruby said, walking in front of Weiss, "Let me head back to base."

"But, Ruby..." Weiss began.

"You guys are too slow. You'll never make it back in time." Ruby continued, "Besides, like you said, we can't survive another brawl. If I go alone, I can distract the enemy long enough for you to capture their base. Hopefully..."

The three girls smiled as they looked at their leader. "Alright." Weiss said and turned back to the path.

"This is very brave of you." Blake admired.

"Oh! My little Ruby's growing up!" Yang cried, wiping a tear from her eye.

**Computers: Base is being captured.**

Ruby turned and ran past the radar dish to return to the base, the blue bar under the friendly team score beginning to slowly drain. "Don't worry guys, just make sure you get the base!" She said.

"No problem sis!" Yang replied, continuing towards the enemy base. Weiss and Blake followed, but as they turned the corner they were shot by two medium lasers.

"Ah! Where did that come from?" Weiss asked.

"There! That turret!" Blake responded, firing her AC/5s at an enemy turret.

"Ugh, I forgot about those stupid turrets!" Yang complained and added her UAC/5s.

**Yang's computer: Warning, incoming missiles.**

"Oh, what now..." Yang said as she turned just in time to see another turret fire its LRM 10. She turned her torso left to block the missiles with her arm, then turned back and shot at it with her UACs.

"At least these turrets don't put up much of a fight." Weiss said, firing her LRMs at a third turret.

"Well, they are meant to be a last defense." Blake observed, "The players are supposed to be the ones doing the fighting. Speaking of which, Ruby, are you at our base yet?"

"Almost." Ruby answered as she ran on the path the team had used at the beginning of the match. She made it back to her base and stepped into it. "Um..."

"What's wrong, Ruby?" Yang asked as she walked nearer to the enemy base.

"There's no one here." Ruby said.

"What? What do you mean?" Weiss asked.

"I mean, some of our turrets are blown up and our base bar...thing, emptied a bit, but the base is empty!" Ruby said, panic building in her voice.

"But if they're not at our base, then where..." Yang began, but trailed off as she realized something, "...Oh crap..."

"What?" Weiss asked again. Just then, a PPC bolt fired from behind the closest tower-rock and hit Yang's damaged left torso.

"Ow! That's what!" Yang replied as the three girls turned to the rock to see the enemy team, including a _Jagermech_ and an _Atlas_, walking toward them. The _Atlas_ launched its LRM 20 while the _Jagermech_ began chain-firing its four AC/2s at Yang.

**Blake's computer: Warning, incoming missiles.**

"Ruby, get down here! We need help!" Yang said, trying to block the AC/2 shots with her right side.

"On it!" Ruby replied, and started running through the path back to her teammates. Yang fired her SRMs at an enemy _Locust_ that had run up to her, but the small mech was able to dodge them and returned fire with its five small lasers. The _Jagermech_ continued its seemingly endless AC/2 fire at Yang.

"Weiss! Do something about that Jagermech!" Blake said as she fired her weapons at the enemy _Atlas_.

"Alright!" Weiss replied, locking-on to the _Jagermech_ and firing her LRMs. As the missiles arced and dove toward the _Jagermech_, two small guns on its friendly _Atlas'_ left and right arms began firing at Weiss' missiles, with one more from the _Catapult_ next to it. "What was that!" She exclaimed as only about half of her missiles hit.

"They must have an anti-missile system or something..." Blake guessed.

Weiss sighed, "That figures... There is always something new in this game..."

"Yeah, but we're doing okay." Yang said, switching through her targets as the _Jagermech_ shut down, "Most of the mechs have at least a critical side torso. If we can just shoot them a little more-" The enemy _Locust_ ran in front of her and fired its lasers at her _Victor's_ left torso, destroying its remaining structure. The mech fell forward and the camera switched to third-person and displayed Yang's match stats. "What!" She yelled, "Why am I dead! I still have my center torso!"

"Yang, what happened?" Ruby asked as she finally reached her teammates.

"I was being shot by the Jager and then some stupid little thing destroyed my left torso and then I died!" Yang replied, her lilac eyes beginning to turn red. "That stupid ECM Atlas in the last match didn't die when I blew up his left torso! So why the fu-"

"Yang, calm down!" Blake snapped, risking a glance at her teammate, "After the match we'll look at your mech's stats. There has to be a logical reason that you died."

Yang leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. "I'm still calling bull!" She growled, but her eyes slowly returned to their normal color. She cycled through her teammates until she was spectating Ruby as she chased down the enemy _Locust_.

"Yang? What was that word you were about to say?" Ruby asked, eying her sister suspiciously.

"Um...Nothing! Don't worry about it!" Yang stuttered, "Just focus on the game..." Ruby shrugged and continued chasing the _Locust_, which made a sharp left and began running to the rest of its team.

"Oops!" Ruby squeaked and held the S key to make her mech back up as the enemy _Catapult_ and _Atlas_ turned to her. The _Catapult_ fired the two ER PPCs that replaced its missile pods at Ruby, striking her mech's center torso and turning its structure yellow.

**Weiss' computer: LRM ammo, at 25%.**

"Ruby! What are you doing!" Weiss said, ignoring her computer's warning and firing another volley at the enemy _Jagermech,_ "Don't back up! Turn around and run!"

"Um..." Ruby thought, continuing to back up. She fired her ER large laser at the enemy _Atlas_ as it fired its medium laser at her torso.

**Ruby's computer: Center torso, critical-**

The computer was cut off as the _Atlas_ shot its AC/20 at Ruby's center torso, destroying the structure and killing the mech. "Awww!" Ruby sulked as the camera circled her destroyed mech.

"Well, doesn't matter now." Yang shrugged and clicked to spectate Blake as Ruby spectated Weiss, "Hey, I just noticed you can see the number of spectators."

"Really?" Blake asked as she moved behind a large rock as the _Atlas_ locked-onto her again.

"Yeah!" Yang answered, "I can't believe I didn't see it before! Right under the switch mech button it shows the number of your teammates watching the mech. Blake, right now there are six people spectating you, including me!"

"Oh joy..." Blake said, rolling her eyes.

"And me and three people are spectating you, Weiss." Ruby said.

"Great..." Weiss grumbled, "Not only are we going to fail miserably, but the whole team is going to watch..."

"Oh, come on ice queen! You could still win!" Yang offered, but only received a death stare from Weiss. The enemy team continued to advance as Weiss and Blake backed up, trying to keep as many rocks and hills between them and their opponents to avoid being targeted. Weiss continued to reverse until she accidentally stepped into the enemy's base.

**Computers: Enemy Base is being captured. **

"Uh-oh..." Ruby said quietly.

"Oh, that's gonna make 'em mad!" Yang chuckled.

"Sh-shut up!" Weiss stuttered, "Isn't this the point of this game mode?"

"This is not going to go well..." Blake grimly stated. Weiss targeted the _Jagermech_ as it crested the nearest hill and, noting its almost destroyed right torso, fired her LRMs. They struck its torso but only turned its right torso structure dark red.

"Come on!" Weiss yelled, rapidly clicking the fire button as her missiles reloaded. Blake targeted the mech and fired her AC/5s at its right torso, trading shots as the _Jagermech_ fired its four AC/2s at Blake's left torso. The _Jagermech_ fell back and the team score went up by one as a small explosion happened in Blake's left torso and one of her AC/5s was shaded on her HUD.

**Blake's computer: Autocannon, destroyed.**

"Wait, what?" Yang asked, confused, "Why did you lose one of your cannons? You still have your left torso."

"I think equipment can be destroyed individually if the component they are in is not protected by armor." Blake guessed.

"Huh?" Yang said.

Weiss rolled her eyes, "If your armor is gone, your stuff can blow up!"

"Oh," Yang realized, "That sucks." The enemy _Locust_ was next to run over the hill and turned to Blake, running at her and firing its lasers. They struck her left torso, turning the structure red.

**Weiss' computer: Warning, incoming missiles.**

"Ugh, the Locust is tracking for its teammates!" Weiss yelled as she was hit by the enemy _Atlas' _missiles. She targeted it and launched her own missiles.

**Weiss' computer: LRM ammo, depleted.**

"Oh, that's just great..." Weiss complained.

"You're still doing better than me right now!" Blake exclaimed, turning her mech to keep its left torso away from the _Locust_ as it fried at her again. The enemy _Atlas_ walked up the hill and fired its AC/20 at Weiss while the _Catapult_ moved up behind it.

"This is ridiculous!" Weiss shouted as the AC/20 shot hit her mech's left torso, "We're completely outnumbered and outgunned!" The enemy _Catapult_ moved out from behind the _Atlas_ and fired its ER PPCs, both of them hitting Blake's left torso and destroying the last of its structure. The enemy score went up as Blake's mech fell to the ground.

"And now you're really outnumbered..." Blake said, letting go of her mouse and keyboard and leaning back in her chair.

"Seriously!?" Weiss said in shock.

"Come on, Weiss! You can do it!" Ruby cheered.

"I appreciate your ENTHUSIASM Ruby, but I don't think cheering is going to HELP much!" Weiss grunted as the _Atlas_ fired its AC/20 and PPC at her left torso.

**Weiss' computer: Left torso, critical damage.**

Weiss targeted the _Atlas_ and fired her SSRMs, the missiles homing-in on the enemy mech. The _Catapult_ shot its PPCs and medium pulse laser, hitting Weiss' right arm but shutting itself down due to the heat spike. The _Locust_ circled Weiss, focusing its laser fire on her mech's right arm. She continued to back up and fire her SSRMs at the _Atlas_ as the _Locust_ destroyed her right arm, the missile pod exploding and falling to the ground.

**Weiss' computer: Right arm, destroyed. LRM, destroyed. Streak SRM, destroyed.**

"Weiss, I hate to tell you this...But I think you are royally screwed." Yang said.

"Oh, this coming from miss 'oh come on, Weiss! Stop talking like a quitter!'" Weiss retorted, imitating Yang.

"Hey, we still had weapons when I said that!" Yang responded, "What are you gonna do with four tiny missiles?"

"Come on Yang, don't be mean!" Ruby defended, "Maybe Weiss could get a few lucky shots?"

**Weiss' computer: Left torso, destroyed. Left arm, destroyed. LRM, destroyed. Streak SRM, destroyed. **

"Or not." Blake stated. The girls looked at their screens to see the enemy _Atlas_ advancing as Weiss reversed, her weapons and the arms and left torso on her armor/structure indicator were all faded.

"Okay, so first the Atlas in the last game survives without its side torso, and now Weiss? What the heck is going on?" Yang said, puzzled.

"We'll be able to check in the mechlab very soon." Blake told her.

"Yeah, this is definitely a loss." Weiss announced as she turned her mech to let the enemy team finish her off.

Ruby slumped in her chair. "Our first loss..." She whimpered.

"It's okay, Ruby." Yang consoled as the _Atlas_ destroyed Weiss' center torso, ending the match, "We did pretty good until now."

"Yeah," Blake agreed, "We're doing well considering we've never played this game before."

"I guess." Ruby sighed.

"Come on Ruby, we have time for one more match if you want," Weiss offered as the game loaded them back to the mechlab.

"Okay!" Ruby said, instantly perking up.

"Hold on!" Yang yelled, causing the others to jump, "Before we do anything else, I am going to see what the deal is with my mech!" She began searching through the mechlab options while her teammates regained their composure until she found a button called 'Mech Stats' and clicked it. Her screen switched to a detailed loadout of her mech, as well as showing its upgrades, modules and camouflage. "Okay, my darling trial mech," Yang mumbled as she looked through her mech's equipment, "Why do you die when others don't..."

"Hey, cool! My mech is fully upgraded!" Ruby said, now looking at her mech's stats as well, "But, it doesn't have the Artemis IV upgrade..."

"That shouldn't matter since your Spider doesn't have any missiles." Blake pointed out as she and Weiss clicked on their mech's stats.

"Guys! I can't figure out what's wrong with my mech!" Yang whined in an exaggerated way.

Blake sighed and turned to her partner, "Alright, tell me your mech's equipment and upgrades and let's try to make sense of it."

"Okay!" Yang agreed and turned back to her mech's stats, "Let's see...It has standard armor and...Endo-Steel structure, standard missile guidance, single heatsinks..."

"Single heatsinks?" Blake questioned.

"Yeah." Yang said.

"Hm, that could be one of the problems..." Blake told her, "My Shadowhawk is equipped with double heatsinks."

"Double heatsinks?" Yang repeated.

"My mech also has double heatsinks." Weiss said.

"So does mine!" Ruby chimed in.

"Well that's not fair!" Yang exclaimed, "Why do your mechs have the good upgrades and I don't get crap!"

"Remember Yang, these are just trial mechs. You can't expect the game to just give you the best mechs in the game." Blake explained. Yang just grunted.

"You know...I've been thinking..." Weiss began, "What engine is your mech equipped with, Yang?

"An XL 350." Yang answered, "Why?"

"And how many slots does it take up in your mech?" Weiss asked.

"Um...Six in the center torso and three in each side torso." Yang replied.

Weiss crossed her arms and nodded, "Alright, that explains your second problem." The other three gave her confused looks.

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

"Yang's engine is so big, that it takes up her mech's center and side torsos." Weiss explained, "Blake, what engine does your mech have?"

"An XL 255." Blake answered.

Weiss nodded again, "As I thought." Blake looked at her mech's loadout thoughtfully while Yang and Ruby glanced at each other.

"Um...I'm still confused." Yang said.

"Yeah, me too..." Ruby admitted.

"Okay," Weiss said while Blake moved her mouse across her screen, "Blake and Yang's mechs have XL engines which take up twelve slots in total, six in the center torso and three in each side torso."

"Okay..." Ruby acknowledged.

"However," Weiss continued, "My mech has a standard 280 engine that only takes up six slots in the center torso."

"So?" Yang asked.

"So? So, when your mech's side torso was destroyed, it lost a big chunk of its engine! My mech survived because its engine is only in its center torso." Weiss answered.

"What the heck! That's even less fair!" Yang exclaimed.

"Oh-no! That means I'm vulnerable too!" Ruby squeaked, noting her mech's XL engine.

"Why in the heck would anyone have this kind of engine!" Yang cried.

"An XL engine grants tremendous speed and weighs less than a standard engine, but costs more and takes up three critical slots in each side torso." Ruby, Weiss and Yang turned their heads to Blake, who was reading an information box over her mech's engine. She looked at the others and shrugged, "That's what is says anyway."

"So basically, XL engines make your mech faster, but also add an extra risk." Weiss concluded.

"Two, technically." Blake added.

"Aw man, this sucks!" Yang groaned.

"Don't worry, Yang." Ruby said to her, "We just have to play more carefully, that's all."

"And besides, once our trial matches are done, we can buy our own mechs and you can put a standard engine in whatever you get." Blake reassured.

Yang sighed, "Yeah, your right. How many more matches until then anyway?"

"For Ruby, twenty-two. For us, twenty-three." Weiss answered.

"ARGH! SERIOUSLY?" Yang burst out, then slumped back in her chair.

"What's wrong!" Ruby asked, startled by her sister's outburst. Yang just mumbled something unintelligible.

"What? Yang, please speak clearly." Weiss said.

Yang let out a loud groan, "It's gonna take forever to play twenty-three matches..." Ruby giggled as Weiss and Blake sighed, large sweat drops forming on their heads.

"Well Yang, do you _want_ to customize your own mech?" Blake asked.

"Yeah, but-"

"Then let's play again!" Ruby interrupted as she clicked the play button.

"Geez, Ruby! Just wait a moment before entering another match!" Weiss exclaimed. Ruby looked at her with big eyes.

"I'm sorry Weiss, I just really wanted to play again before bed..." She whimpered.

Weiss sighed, "It's okay, just give us more of a warning before you hit play." Ruby cheered and settled herself in her seat, ready for the next game. Weiss smiled and readied herself, but turned her head to see Blake smirking at her, "What?"

"Oh, nothing." Blake said, her smirk getting wider as she turned back to her screen. Weiss frowned but let it go and returned her gaze to her screen.

"Okay..." Yang grunted, leaning forward and putting her hands on her mouse and keyboard, "Let's try not to die this time..."

"Don't worry Yang!" Ruby cheerfully said as they connected to a game, "I have a good feeling about this match!"


End file.
